Documenta / Graecorum Concilia

PREFACE

The canons of the general councils began from the times of Constantine; for in the preceding years, while persecution was raging, there was scarcely any opportunity to teach the peoples. Then Christianity was split into various heresies, because the holy bishops did not have permission to assemble in one place except in the time of the aforementioned emperor; for he gave Christians the freedom to gather freely. Under him also the holy Fathers, assembling at the Council of Nicaea from the whole world, handed down the creed according to the evangelical and apostolic faith, the second after the apostles. But there are four principal councils, from which the Church holds the fullest doctrine of the faith, both concerning the divinity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and concerning the incarnation of the aforementioned Son and our Savior.

The first of these is the Council of Nicaea of three hundred and eighteen bishops, held under the Emperor Constantine Augustus, in which the blasphemy of Arian perfidy was condemned; when the same Arius asserted an inequality of the holy Trinity, that same holy council defined by its creed that God the Son is consubstantial with God the Father.

The second synod is that of one hundred and fifty Fathers, assembled at Constantinople under the elder Theodosius, which, condemning Macedonius, who denied that the Holy Spirit is God, demonstrated that the same Paraclete is consubstantial with the Father and the Son, giving more widely the form of the symbol which all Greece and Latinitas preach in the Churches.

The third synod is the first Ephesine, of two hundred bishops, issued under the younger Theodosius Augustus, which condemned by just anathema Nestorius, who asserted two persons in Christ, showing that one person of the Lord Jesus Christ remains in two natures.

The fourth synod is the Chalcedonian, of six hundred and thirty priests, held under the prince Martianus, in which Eutyches, abbot of Constantinople, who declared one nature of the Word of God and of the flesh, and his defender Dioscorus, formerly bishop of Alexandria, and Nestorius himself again along with the remaining heretics, it condemned beforehand by the single sentence of the Fathers, preaching—the same synod—that Christ God was so born of the Virgin that in him we confess the substance of both the divine and the human nature.

These, as we said before, are the four principal and venerable synods, embracing the whole faith. But even if there are synods which the holy Fathers, full of the Spirit of God, sanctioned, after the authority of these four they remain established by the full force of all, whose acts also are contained, set down in this work.

At the beginning of this volume, however, we have placed the Nicene synod on account of the authority of that same great council; thereafter we shall set in place, under the order of numbers and times, distinguished by their own chapters, the various councils of the Greeks and Latins, whether those held before or those held afterward, within the view of this volume; adding also the decrees of the Roman prelates, in which, by reason of the eminence of the apostolic see, there stands an authority of councils not unequal, so that the discipline of ecclesiastical order, gathered together and arranged by us into one, may both instruct holy prelates in the paternal rules and imbue obedient ministers of the Church and the people with special examples.

But the canons that are called of the apostles, either because the apostolic see does not receive them, nor did the holy Fathers give their consent to them, for the reason that they are recognized to have been composed by heretics under the name of the apostles; although certain useful things are found in them, yet by canonical and apostolic authority their acts are established to be removed and reckoned among the apocrypha.

But "canon" in Greek is called "rule" in Latin; and a rule is so called because it leads in a straight way, nor does it ever draw aside in another direction. Others have said that a rule is so called either because it rules, or because it provides a norm of living rightly, or because it corrects whatever is distorted and depraved. But "synod" is interpreted from the Greek as "company" or "assembly"; but the name of "council" is drawn from common intention, because they direct the gaze of all their mind into one; for "cilia" are the eyes' [eyelids], whence also those who disagree among themselves do not hold a council, because they do not perceive as one. But a "coetus" is a gathering or congregation from "coeundo," that is, from coming together into one, whence also it is named "conventus" because men come together there, just as a conventus, coetus, or concilium [is named] from the association of many into one.

THE COUNCILS OF THE GREEKS

I. THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA

WHICH WAS HELD IN THE TIMES OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE, BY THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN BISHOPS, IN THE CITY OF NICAEA, METROPOLIS OF BITHYNIA, IN THE CONSULSHIP OF PAULINUS AND JULIAN, ON THE THIRTEENTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF JULY, IN THE YEAR 362.

1-2 When this holy and great council had assembled at the city of Nicaea in the province of Bithynia, these things which are written below were established by them, translated from the Greek language into Latin.

I. Concerning eunuchs who castrate themselves.

If anyone has been cut in illness, either by physicians or castrated by barbarians, it has been decided that such a man remain in the clergy; but if anyone in good health has castrated himself, even if he is in the clergy, he must cease, and henceforth no such man ought to be ordained. But just as concerning those who have either desired or dared to castrate themselves, these things which we have said have been established, so if any have been made so either by barbarians or by their own masters, and they are of approved life, the ecclesiastical rule receives such men into the clergy.

II. Concerning those who are immediately advanced to the clergy after baptism.

Since many things have been done contrary to the rule, whether through necessity or for whatever cause, such that men from a pagan life, only recently still being catechized or instructed, came straight to spiritual baptism, and immediately upon being baptized were also advanced to the episcopate or the presbyterate, it has therefore rightly seemed good that nothing of this sort be done hereafter; for both time is needed for one to be a catechumen, and after baptism he requires much testing. For evident is the apostolic precept saying: Not a neophyte, lest perhaps being puffed up he fall into judgment and the snare of the devil. But if in the preceding time he has committed some mortal sin, and has been convicted by two or three witnesses, such a one shall cease from the clergy; but if anyone acts contrary to these things, as one doing things contrary to the statutes of the holy council, he himself also shall be in peril concerning the status of his clergy.

III. Concerning women brought in [as companions].

The holy synod forbids in every way that a bishop, a presbyter, a deacon, or any cleric whatsoever be permitted to have with him an outside woman, unless perhaps she be his mother, sister, or aunt—that is, either a father's sister or a mother's sister. For in these persons alone and others like them is every suspicion arising from women avoided. But whoever acts contrary to these [rules] shall be in danger of [losing] his clergy status.

IV. How bishops ought to be ordained.

A bishop ought to be ordained by all the bishops who are in his province, if it can be done; but if this is difficult, either because of urgent necessity or because of the length of the journey, then at least three bishops ought to be gathered together, so that they may also hold the consent of the others who are absent in letters, and thus perform the ordination. The authority, indeed, or confirmation shall pertain, throughout the individual provinces, to the metropolitan bishop.

V. Concerning excommunicated clerics or laypeople.

Let this sentence also be observed, that those who are excommunicated by some are not to be received into communion by others. It must indeed be inquired whether perhaps those who, from some indignation of mind or contention or any such disturbance of temper, have been kept back by the excommunication of their own bishop. Therefore, so that these matters can be properly investigated with worthy examination, it has rightly seemed good that in each and every province a council of bishops be held twice a year, so that gathering together at one time from every province they may examine questions of this kind: so that thus those who by reason of their own faults have justly incurred the offenses of their bishops may likewise be deservedly held excommunicated by the rest, until in communion it shall have seemed good even to their own bishop to pass a more humane sentence concerning them. But let a council be held once before the days of Lent, so that, with all quarrels, if there are any, cut off, a clean solemn offering may be offered to God; and let the second council be held around the time of autumn.

VI. Concerning the primacies of metropolitan bishops.

Let the ancient custom endure in Egypt, Libya, and the Pentapolis, that the bishop of Alexandria have authority over all of these, since indeed this same custom also belongs to the bishop of Rome. Likewise also at Antioch and in the other provinces, let the honor proper to each church be preserved. But in all things it is manifest that if anyone has been ordained against the will and knowledge of the metropolitan bishop, this great and holy council has decreed that he ought not to be a bishop; yet if, with the common consent of all and reasonably approved according to the ecclesiastical rule, two or three, led by animosity, oppose it out of contention, let the judgment of the majority of the priests prevail.

VII. Concerning the honor of the bishop of Jerusalem.

Since ancient custom has prevailed and old tradition has held that honor be deferred to the bishop of Aelia, that is, of Jerusalem, he shall consequently have honor, the proper dignity of the metropolitan city nevertheless remaining.

VIII. Concerning the Novatians.

If any wish to come to the catholic Church from the Novatians, the holy council has decreed that they be ordained, and so remain in the clergy. But before all things this confession must be exacted from them in writing, that they acknowledge that they will observe the statutes of the catholic Church by common consent, that is, that they will hold communion both with those who have perhaps experienced second marriages and with those who lapsed in the time of persecution. Yet for these lapsed, a manner and time of penance has been prescribed, so that in all things they follow what is observed in the catholic Church, and so wherever they themselves are found, whether in villages or in cities, they are to be ordained clergy by the catholics who are found there, and so also they are to remain in the clergy, each one in his own rank. If, however, there be a bishop or presbyter of the catholic Church to whom some of these come, it is certain that the catholic bishop indeed retains his own dignity, and likewise the presbyter and deacon retain theirs. But those who come from them, if perhaps one was a bishop, let him have the dignity of the presbyterate, unless perhaps it also pleases the catholic bishop to grant him even the honor of the episcopal name; but if it has not pleased him, let him find him a place, so that he may be a bishop or presbyter in the clergy within the parish, provided only that two bishops are not seen to be in the city, and that he be seen to remain altogether in the clergy.

IX. Concerning presbyters appointed without examination.

If any have been promoted to the presbyterate without examination, and afterwards, when examined, have confessed their sins, and after they had confessed, men who came against the rule rashly laid hands on them, the ecclesiastical order does not receive these men; for in all things the Church defends what is irreproachable.

X. Concerning fallen clerics who have been ordained.

Whoever among those who have fallen have been ordained through ignorance or through the contempt of those who ordained them, this does not prejudice the ecclesiastical rule; for when it is discovered, they shall be deposed.

XI. Concerning those who have fallen willingly, how they ought to do penance.

It has pleased the holy synod, although they are unworthy of mercy, that nevertheless something of humanity be shown toward them. If any therefore repent from the heart, let them be among the hearers for three years; if indeed they are faithful, let them be among the penitents for seven other years; and for two more years let them share with the people in prayer only, outside communion. But if any, called through the grace of faith, first indeed showed their faith by laying aside the belt of military service, but afterwards returned to their own vomit, so as both to give money and to seek to return again to military service, these shall be among the penitents for ten years after the first three years in which they were among the hearers; but above all let this be observed by all, that their disposition and the fruit of their penance be observed.

For whoever demonstrates their manner of life with all fear and persistent tears and good works, not in words only but in deed and truth, when the appointed time has also been fulfilled by them and they have already begun to share in the prayers, it will be permitted for the bishop to think something even more humanely concerning them. But those who have regarded their fall with indifference, and think it sufficient for them that they have entered the church, these shall fulfill the appointed times in every respect.

XII. Concerning those excommunicated who depart from this world.

But concerning those who depart from the body, the rule of the ancient law shall be observed even now; so that if perhaps one departs from the body, he is not necessarily defrauded of the viaticum of his life. But if any desperate person, having received communion, survives, let him be among those who communicate by prayer alone; yet concerning all these who depart from the body, in granting them communion let there be care and examination by the bishop.

XIII. Concerning catechumens who have fallen.

This holy and great council has decreed concerning catechumens who have fallen, that for three years they are to be among the hearers of the word only; but after this let them pray with the catechumens.

XIV. That deacons are not to hand the body of Christ to presbyters, nor communicate before the presbyters.

It has come to the holy council that in certain places and cities deacons offer the sacraments to presbyters: neither the rule nor custom has handed this down, that those who have no power to offer the sacrifice should hand the body of Christ to those who do offer. But this also has become known, that certain deacons even receive the sacraments before the bishops. Therefore let all these things be cut off, and let deacons remain within their own proper measure, knowing that they are indeed ministers of the bishops, but are inferior to the presbyters: therefore let them receive in order after the presbyters from the bishop or the presbyter; but if the bishop or presbyter is not present, then let the deacon himself bring it forth and give it. But it is not even permitted for deacons to sit in the midst of the presbyters; for it is contrary to the rule and contrary to order that this be done: but if anyone is unwilling to be content with these things, after this definition let him cease to be a deacon.

XV. Concerning clerics who rashly depart from the church.

Because of the many disturbances and frequent outbreaks of sedition that customarily occur, it has pleased us that this custom, which is contrary to the rule, be entirely abolished wherever it happens—namely, that neither bishop nor presbyter nor deacon pass from one city to another. But if anyone after these statutes of this holy council shall attempt to dare any such thing, his attempt of every kind shall be thwarted, and he shall be restored to his own church in which he was ordained.

XVI. Concerning presbyters and deacons or clerics who pass over to other cities.

But if any, acting without regard for God and not keeping the fear of God before their eyes, nor observing the ecclesiastical statutes, have departed from their church—whether presbyters, or deacons, or those placed in any ecclesiastical order—they must not be received in another church, but they are to be compelled with all necessity to return to their own churches; or if they remain, they ought to be excommunicated.

XVII. Concerning foreign clerics not to be ordained in another's church without the consent of their own bishop.

If anyone has dared to ordain in his own church someone who belongs to another, when he does not have the consent of that bishop from whom the cleric departed, an ordination of this kind shall be invalid.

XVIII. Concerning clerics who take interest or increase.

Since many clerics, seeking shameful gain for the sake of avarice, have forgotten the divine precept in which it is said: He who has not given his money at interest, lend at interest and demand hundredfold returns, this holy council has decreed: if anyone after this definition is found to take interest, or to pursue shameful gain from any such business, or even to give kinds of grain at sixfold, everyone who has devised any such thing for profit shall be cast down from the clergy and be held alien from the ecclesiastical rank.

XIX. Concerning the Paulianists and Cataphrygians who are to be rebaptized.

If anyone has fled to the catholic Church from the Paulianists and Cataphrygians, let it be decreed that they must in every case be rebaptized. But if any were clerics among them, if indeed they have been found blameless and irreproachable, let them, after being rebaptized, also be ordained again by the bishop of the catholic Church; but if, upon examination, they are found less fit and have been reproved, they ought to be deposed. The same rule shall likewise be observed concerning deacons and concerning all who are found in the same clergy. We shall also make mention of the deaconesses who are found in this order, who have no imposition of hands at all, so that they are to be reckoned among the laypeople in every respect; likewise the deaconesses who are not recognized in the catholic canon are to be assigned to a similar place, that is, as laywomen and as not consecrated.

XX. Concerning the Lord's days and Pentecost, that on them we pray standing.

Since there are some who kneel for prayer on the Lord's day and on the days of Pentecost, it has therefore been decreed by the holy synod—since it is a consonant and fitting custom to be observed throughout all the Churches—that we pay our vows to the Lord standing at prayer.

SYMBOL OF FAITH.

Issued by the three hundred and eighteen Fathers of the same great Council of Nicaea.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, only-begotten, born of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, born, not made, consubstantial with the Father, that is, of one substance with the Father, which the Greeks call homoousion, through whom all things were made, both in heaven and on earth; who for us men and for our salvation descended, was incarnate, and became man, suffered, and died; rose again on the third day; ascended into the heavens, and will come to judge the living and the dead: and in the Holy Spirit. But those who say: there was a time when he was not, and before he was born he was not, and that he was made from nothing, or from some other substance or nature, saying that the Son of God is mutable and changeable; these the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes and condemns.

This is the faith which the Fathers set forth: first indeed against Arius the blasphemer, who said that the Son of God is a creature; and against every heresy of Sabellius, Photinus, Paul of Samosata, Manichaeus, Valentinus, Marcion, and against every heresy whatsoever, if any has risen up against the catholic and apostolic Church: all of which the three hundred and eighteen bishops gathered at Nicaea condemned, whose names and provinces have been recorded: but most of the zealous servants of God took greater care to write down the names of the Eastern bishops, for the reason that the West did not likewise have an inquiry concerning heresies.

And the three hundred and eighteen Fathers who had assembled in the same council subscribed.

Hosius, bishop of the city of Corduba in the province of Spain, said: I believe thus as is written above. Victor and Vincentius, presbyters of the city of Rome, subscribed.

Of the province of Egypt.

Alexander of great Alexandria. — Alphocration of Alphocranon. — Adamantius of Cynon. — Albetius of Baresii [G., Barethu]. — Philip of Panephysis. — Potamon of Heracleos. — Secundus of Ptolemais. — Dorotheus of Pelusium. — Gaius of Muetos [G., Muethus]. Antiochus of Memphis. — Tiberius of Tauthites.

Of the province of the Thebaid.

Atthas of Scedra. — Tyrannus of Antinon. — Olusianus of Lycon.

Of the province of Libya.

Dathes of Beronice. — Zophirus of Barche. — Saraphius of Antipyrgon. — Secundus of Tauchibies. — Titus of Paratoniu.

Of the province of Palestine.

Macharius the Hierosolymitan. — Germanus the Neapolitan. — Marinus the Sebastenian. — Gaimus the Caesariensian. — Eusebius the Gaharenian. — Sabinus the Ascalonian. — Longinus the Nicopolitan. — Peter of Jamnias. — Macrinus the Eleutheropolite. — Maximus of the Maximianopolitans. — Paulinus of the Maximinopolitans. — Januarius of Jerecunctos. — Eliodorus of Zabulon. — Letius of Liddon. — Silvanus of Azotii. — Atrophilus of Zabulon. — Asclepius of Liddon. — Peter the Scitopolitan. — Antiochus of Gaces. — Selus [G., Selis] of Capitholias.

Of the province of Phoenice.

Zenon of Cletiron [G., of Tyre]. — Aeneas of Ptolemais. — Magnus of Damascus. — Theodorus of Sidon. — Hellanicus of Tripolis. — Philocalus of Paneas. — Gregorius of Berytus. — Maranus of Palmyra. — Tadoneus of Alasia. — Anatolius of Emesa.

Of the province of Coele Syria.

Eustathius of Antioch. — Zenobius of Seleucia. — Theodorus of Laodicea. — Alphius of Apamea. — Bassianus of Rephanea. — Philoxenus of Hierapolis. — Piperius of Samosata. — Archelaus of Doliche. — Euphrantion of Balanea. — Phaladus, chorepiscopus. — Zoilus of Gabala. — Passus of Zeugma. — Leontius of Larissa. — Eustathius of Arethusa. — Manitius of Epiphania. — Paulus of Neocaesarea. — Siricius of Syrrhis. — Seleucus, chorepiscopus. — Petrus of Gindaron. — Pegasius of Ambachmianon. — Basonus of Gambala. — Gerontius of Carison.

Of the province of Arabia.

Nichomachus of Bastron [G., of Bostron]. — Cyrion of Philadelphia. — Gennadius of Hisbundum. — Severus of Sodimon. — Sopater of Heristis Bothanias. — Severus of Dionysias.

Of the province of Mesopotamia.

Ethilaus of Edessa. — Jacobus of Pesteba. — Antiochus of Resaena. — Mareas of Macenopolis.

Of the province of Persia.

Joannes of Persis.

Of the province of Cilicia.

Theodorus of Tarsus. — Alphion of Epiphania. — Narcisus of Nerodias. — Moyses of Castabala. — N - chaesas of Flaviada. — Eudaemon, chorepiscopus. — Paulinus of Adana. — Macedonius of Manxista. — Tarcodimantos of Aegea. — Hesychius of Alexandria the Less. — Narcisus of Irenopolis.

Of the province of Cappadocia.

Leontius of Caesarea. — Eupsychius of Thiana. — Euphrasius of Colonia. — Timotheus of Cirbistra. — Elpidius of Cumanus. — Gorgonius, chorepiscopus. — Stephanus, chorepiscopus. — Euphronius, chorepiscopus. — Rodon, chorepiscopus. — Theophanes, chorepiscopus.

Of the province of Armenia Minor.

Eulogius of Sebaste. — Ebethius of Satale.

Of the province of Armenia Major.

Arsarphius of Sobmon. — Acrithes of Diospontium. — Entychianus of Amasea. — Elpidius of Edesion. — Heraclius of Zelon. — Elpidius of Cumanus.

Of Pontus Polemoniacus.

Longinus of Neocaesarea. — Domnus of Trebizond. — Stratophilus of Pityus.

Of the province of Paphlagonia.

Philadelphus of Pompeiopolis. — Petronius of Ionopolis. — Eupsychius of Amastris.

Of the province of Galatia.

Pancharius of Ancyra. — Dicasius of Tavium. — Erechoreus of Plamaton. — Gorgonius of Cynon. — Philadelphius of Juliopolis.

Of the province of Asia.

Theonius of Cilicia. — Menophantus of Ephesus. — Orion of Hilii [Greek, Isliu]. — Eutychius of Isflomis. — Mithres of Alpapthon. — Marinus of the Hellespont. — Paulus of Deneas.

Of the province of Lydia.

Artemidorus of Sardis. — Oron of Thyatira. — Thomasius of Philadelphia. — Olion of Bareos. — Agogius of Tripolis. — Florentinus of Ancyra. — Marcus of Standon.

Of the province of Pisidia.

Elalius of Iconium. — Thelamacus of Adrianopolis. — Eutychius of Seleucia. — Sranius of Smenon. — Tarsitius of Apamea. — Patricius of Amclades. — Polycarpus the metropolitan. — Acumethus of Panon. — Heraclius of Bareos.

Of the province of Lycia.

Eudemus of Patara.

Of the province of Pamphylia.

Callidicus of Perga. — Euresius of Termessus. — Theuxius of Sibara. — Domnus of Aspendus. — Quintianus of Seleucia. — Patritius of Maximianopolis. — Aphrodisius of Magydus.

Of the province of the Islands.

Euphrosinus of Rhodes. — Melichon [G., Meliphron] of Cos. — Strathegus of Lemnos. — Apollodorus of Corcyra.

Of the province of Caria.

Eusebius of Antioch. — Emmonius of Aphrodisias. — Laetodius of Cibyra. — Eusebius of Miletus.

Of the province of Isauria.

Stephanus of Barata. — Atheneus of Curpissus. — Edesius of Claudianopolis. — Agapius of Seleucia. — Silvanus the metropolitan. — Faustus of Panemoticus. — Antoninus of Antioch. — Nestor of Siedron. — Esitius, chorepiscopus. — Cyrillus of Smanandron. — Theodorus, chorepiscopus [G., Usagadon]. — Anatholius of Larisa [G., chorepiscopus]. — Taulus, chorepiscopus [G., of Larisa]. — Quintus of Sclistron [G., chorepiscopus]. — Tiberius, chorepiscopus [G., of Sclistron]. — Aquilos, chorepiscopus. — Eusebius of the parish of Isauria.

Of the province of Cyprus.

Cyril of Paphos. — Selanus of Salamis.

Of the province of Bithynia.

Eusebius of Nicomedia. — Theogenius of Nicaea. — Maris of Chalcedon. — Cyril of Chios. — Hesychius of Prusa. — Gorgonius of Apollonias. — George of Nyssa. — Ebetius of Adrianopolis. — Theophanes, chorepiscopus. — Rufus of Caesarea. — Eulalius, chorepiscopus.

Of Europa.

Pedereus of Heraclea. — Protogenes of Sardica. — Marcus, metropolitan. — Pistos of Thessalonica [in the Greek, metropolitan]. — Scilianus of Macedonia. — Alexander of Athens [in the Greek, of Thessalonica]. — Dachus of Boea [in the Greek, of Macedonia]. — Pistus of Ephesus. — Marsus of Thessaly. — Stratedius of Strymon [in the Greek, of Ephesus]. — Claudianus, metropolitan [in the Greek, of Tetralia]. — Budion of Duxia [in the Greek, of Strymon]. — Domnus of Gutthia [in the Greek, metropolitan]. — Nicheus of Mastrianopolis [in the Greek, of Duxia]. — Theophilus of Bosporus [in the Greek, of Gutthia]. — Camdus, from...

These are the names of the Eastern bishops who assembled at Nicaea for the holy and great council from various provinces and cities, whose names are written below, apart from Italy and Spain, whose names were not had in the copies from which these were transcribed, nor of Gaul nor of Africa, except only Osius, bishop of Spain from the city of Corduba in the province of Baetica, and the presbyters of the city of Rome, that is, Bicon and Vincentius, who subscribed on behalf of their bishop Sylvester, and the Eastern bishops, or those of the whole world, in the times of Constantine, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of July, in the year 362.

First, from Egypt.

Alexander of Alexandria. — Philoxenus of Naples. — Papnuntius of Egypt. — Macarius of Jerusalem. — Arbitio of Ferbitum. — Germanus of Naples. — Alphocrates of Carpocra. — Marinus of Sarabastia. — Philip of Paniseistion. — Galanus of Sabaste. — Adamantius of Canoipotamon. — Eusebius of Caesarea. — ........... of Heraclia. — Suabinus of Gadara. — Dorotheus of Pelusium. — Longinus of Escalonia. — Galus of Tesedia. — Peter of Nicopolis. — Tiberius of Taucica. Macrinus of Jamnia. — Cevia of the Thebaid. — Maximus of Eleutheropolis. — Acassicedia of Antinoe. — Paul of Maxiapoli. — Tiramus of Antioch. — Januarius of Jericho. — Lucianus of Lyco. — Etius of Lydda.

From the province of Upper Libya.

Datius of Berenice. — Silvanus of Azotus. — Joppirus of Arcisteis. — Patrophilus of Sitopolis. — Sarapion of Antibergus. — Asclepius of Gaza. — Tirus of Paratonis. — Peter of Majoma.

From the province of Palestine.

Antiopus of Capitoliada. — Enheas of Ptolemais. — Magnus of Damascus. — Theodore of Sidon. — Cellaonicus of Tripoli. — Gregory of Biritu. Marinus of Psalmia. — Traddonius of Esnisia. Anatholius of Filocalus.

From the province of Phoenicia.

Zeton of Tyre. — Filocalus of Panida. — Anatholius of Edissa. — Jacob of Nezibi. — Antiochus of Resacia. — Marius of Macodo. — John of Persida.

From the province of Coele Syria.

Eustacius of Antioch. — Narcisus of Neronianum, — Zenobius of Selencia. — Theodore of Audacia. — Alfius of Apamea.

From the province of Cilicia.

Theodore of Anfion. — Erifanius of........ — Moses of Castabala. — Niceros of Flaviada. — Eudemon, chorepiscopus. — Paulinus of Adana, — Silamanus of Germanicia. — Piperius of Samosata. — Archelaus of Dolica. — Eufraton of Balaneas. — Faladus [T. 2, Filaciis], chorepiscopus. — Joeleus of Gabala. — Bassus of Zeumate. — Bassinus of Rafaneum. — Gerontius of Larisa. — Manicius of Epiphamia. — Eustacius of Aretusa. — Paul of Neucesarie. — Siricicius of Cyrus. — Solacius, chorepiscopus. — Peter of Jerunda.

From the province of Arabia.

Sopater of Barasato [T. 2, Barasto]. Pagasius of Arbaco. — Demasonus of Abboli. — Nicomatus of Bosdra. — Cirion of Philadelphia. — Gennadius of Esbon. — Severus of Sodon.

From the province of Mesopotamia.

Pancarius of Ancyra. — Decasius of Tabia. — Arcontius of Cammada. — Philadelphus [T. 2, Philadelphi us] of Juliopolis.

From the province of Asia.

Theunas of Cyzicus. — Minophantus [T. 2, Miriofantus] of Ephesus. — Orion of Ilicum. — Enticius of Virsa. — Mifrans of Epia. — Paul of Annea. — Macedonius of Massata. — Tarcodimantes of Egias. — Ipsicius of Alandria.

From the province of Cappadocia.

Leontius of Caesarea. — Ursicius of Tremate [T. 2, Tremata]. — Euresius of Calonia. — Timothy of Tibersa. — Ambrose of Cumanum. — Stephen, chorepiscopus. — Rodon, chorepiscopus.

From the province of Lesser Armenia.

Eulalius of Sabasta. — Eubetius of Satalia. — Eutromius, chorepiscopus. — Tefanis, chorepiscopus.

From the province of Pontipolis.

Longinus of Neocaesarea. — Domnus of Trapitionta. — Domnus of Titensa.

From the province of Palesgonia.

Philadelphus of Pompeiopolis. — Petronius of Lanopolis. — Eusticius of Amostra. — Academius of Mustene. — Heraclitus of Varis. — Theodorus of Vii.

From the province of Lycia.

The faith of Saint Gregory the Great.

One God, the beginning and Father of the living Word, of existing wisdom and power and of His own image, perfect of the perfect begotten, Father of the only-begotten Son, and one Lord from one Lord, God from God, the figure of the Father's substance, the image of God, God the Word, living and maker of all substance, wisdom containing all things that exist, and the power of every creatable creature, the true Son from the true Father, invisible from invisible, incorruptible from incorruptible, immortal from immortal, and eternal from eternal: and one Holy Spirit, perfect, the perfect life of the living, holiness and fount of holiness, and minister of sanctification; through whom God is in all believers and over all, and the Son who is through all.

The perfect Trinity, glory and everlasting kingdom, indivisible and inalienable: therefore there is nothing in the Trinity that is created or servile or a servant, nor anything adventitious or introduced from without, as though it had not existed before and had entered in at the last; for neither was the Son ever absent from the Father, nor the Holy Spirit from the Son, but this same Trinity is always unchangeable and inconvertible.

II. THE COUNCIL OF ANCYRA, HELD BY TWELVE BISHOPS.

These canons or rules are indeed earlier than those of Nicaea, but the canons of Nicaea are written first because of the authority of the great and holy council held at Nicaea. Now those who assembled in the aforesaid synod of the city of Ancyra are the following: Marcellus of Ancyra, Agricolaus of Caesarea, Lupus of Tarsus, Vitalius of Antioch, Basilius of Amasea, Philadelphius of Juliopolis, Festulus of Nicomedia, Heraclius of Zelon, Petrus of Iconium, Nunecius of Laodicea, Sergianus of Antioch in Pisidia, Narcisus of Nerodias.

I. Concerning presbyters who lapsed in persecution.

Presbyters who sacrificed and afterwards again entered the contest: if they did this of faith and not by some contrivance of their own devising, so that they might appear to be seized again and be subjected to torments as though thought to be unwilling—if therefore they struggled of faith and did not act by collusion for display, so that they themselves were offered up, it has been decided that these may indeed retain the honor of their own seat, but that it shall not be lawful for them to offer, or to preach to the people, or to perform any of the priestly offices.

II. Concerning deacons who sacrificed.

Deacons likewise who sacrificed, but afterwards again struggled: in other respects indeed they ought to have honor, but they must cease from every sacred ministry, so that they neither offer the bread nor the cup, unless perhaps some of the bishops have been aware of their labor and humility and gentleness, and have wished to grant or confer something more upon them; the power in these matters shall therefore rest with them.

III. Concerning clerics or laypeople whose hands others placed over idol sacrifices against their will.

Those who, while fleeing in a time of persecution, were seized, or handed over by relatives or members of their household, and who either lost their own property or endured tortures or were even shut up in prisons, and yet declared themselves to be Christians—indeed, even when the violence persisted, they were brought to such a point that their hands were seized and violently dragged and laid upon the sacrifices, while they themselves persevered in the faith and cried out that they were Christians—this, therefore, which happened to them against their will and with others compelling them: if they show that they bear it bitterly with grief and sorrow of mind, and by walking in a humble manner through good conduct teach that they grieve that they were compelled unwillingly, such persons, as blameless, are not to be barred from communion. But if they have already been barred from communion by some, whether for the sake of greater diligence and inquiry or through the ignorance of some, they ought immediately to be received. This, moreover, ought to be observed both concerning clerics and concerning all laypeople; but laypeople who have fallen into causes of similar necessity, as those who have sinned in nothing—especially if a commendable life commends them—it has been decided are to be received to ordination.

IV. Concerning those who dined in the temples of idols.

Concerning those who were compelled to sacrifice, and also concerning those who dined in the temples of idols: if any of them were led to the temples in more elegant attire, and there, having changed into even more precious clothing, became partakers of the meals of idols, taking without distinction everything that was set before them, it was decided that they should be appointed to the order of hearers for one year, but that they should perform penance for three other years; yet from that three-year period, for two years they should only share in prayer, and in the third year be reconciled to the sacraments.

V. Concerning those who out of fear performed the rites of the gentiles.

But as many as ascended to the temples in mourning garb and, reclining among others, ate weeping: if they have completed the time of penance of three years, let them be received to communion without an offering, that is, that they themselves not offer the offering. If, however, having been led to the temples, they did not eat, let them remain in penance for two years, but in the third year let them communicate, yet without an offering, as has been said, so that in the fourth year they may now receive their perfection. The bishop ought to have authority in this matter, so that, having examined the conduct of each individual, he may assign the norm and rule of conduct, that is, either acting more humanely according to the manner of life, shorten the time for someone, or even, if he sees it necessary for correction, extend it. But both the previous life and the later life of all these should be examined, and so the priestly humanity should be moderated toward them.

VI. Concerning those who ate in the places of idols.

Concerning those who yielded only to threats, or who sacrificed deterred by the offer of goods or by the penalty of transportation, and have not repented even until now nor been converted, but now, that is, at the time of this synod, have presented themselves, taking counsel for their conversion: it was decided that they be received among the hearers until the great day, and that they do penance for three years, and after another two years communicate without oblation, and thus at last, when six years are completed, arrive at perfection. But if any were received to penance before this council, the beginning of the appointed six-year period shall be reckoned to them from that time. But if any of these should fall into any danger of death, whether from sickness or from any cause, communion shall not be denied them for their viaticum.

VII. Concerning those who frequently sacrificed to idols.

Concerning those who on the feast days of the pagans attended banquets in their remote places, and none the less brought their own dishes there and ate them: it was decided that they be received after a penance of two years; yet whether they are to be received with oblation or ought to be admitted to communion only, let each of the bishops examine, with consideration had of their past and present life.

VIII. Concerning those who were compelled by force to sacrifice to idols.

But those who sacrificed a second and third time under compulsion are to submit themselves to penance for four years; for two further years they are to communicate without the offering; and in the seventh year they are to receive the perfection of communion.

IX. Concerning those who also brought the occasion of sacrificing to others.

But as many as not only strayed from the faith of the Lord, but even rose up against others and persuaded their brethren, and became guilty of that persuasion: these are to be kept among the catechumens for three years; for another six years they are to receive the place of penance; and in another year, that is, the tenth, they are to receive communion without the offering, so that when the ten years are completed they may enjoy perfection. But during that very time their life and conduct must also be considered.

X. Concerning deacons.

Whatever deacons, when they are ordained, have protested at the very ordination itself, saying that they wish to have wives and cannot be continent: these, if afterward they have come to marriage, are to remain in the ministry, for the reason that the bishop gave them permission. But whoever kept silent and received the imposition of hands, professing continence, and afterward came to marriage, must cease from the ministry.

XI. Concerning girls who have been betrothed and afterward violated by others.

It has been decided that girls who have been betrothed and afterward carried off by others are to be recovered and restored to those to whom they had previously been betrothed, even if it is established that they lost the flower of their chastity to their abductors.

XII. Concerning those who sacrificed to idols before baptism.

It has been decided that those who sacrificed before baptism and afterward obtained baptism are to be promoted to orders, as being cleansed from every crime by the sanctification of the saving laver.

XIII. Concerning chorepiscopi.

That the vicars of bishops, whom the Greeks call chorepiscopi, are not permitted to ordain either presbyters or deacons, nor to give any further command to the presbyters of the city without the bishop's instruction, nor to do anything in any parish without the authority of his letters.

XIV. Concerning presbyters who abstain from meat.

Concerning those who are presbyters or deacons in the clergy and abstain from meats, it has been decided and established that they are not to despise them as unclean, but are to touch them; if they wish to abstain from them, they have the power to do so; yet in such a way that if at any time they are cooked with vegetables, they are not to judge those vegetables polluted as by meats, but are to take from them for food even though they abstain from meats. But if they judge them unclean and abominable to such a degree that they do not think the vegetables cooked with meats are to be eaten, then, as not consenting to this rule, they ought to cease from their ministry and order.

But if anyone, when warned, has not obeyed this rule, but has judged meats, as has been said, to be unclean and abominable, he must cease from his order.

XV. That presbyters ought not to sell ecclesiastical property.

If presbyters have sold any of the property of the church when there is no bishop, it has been decided that the contract be rescinded and the property recalled to the jurisdiction of the church; but it will be for the bishop's judgment to determine whether the price ought to be received or not, because it often happens that the revenues of the properties sold have returned a larger sum than the price received.

XVI. Concerning those who have lived irrationally.

In this title the Greek words are these, which we can render in Latin as: Concerning those who have behaved or do behave irrationally. But the meaning in this sentence can be twofold, inferred from what is set before it: either concerning those who have had intercourse with cattle, or who, in the manner of cattle, have committed incest with blood relatives. Therefore, as many as have committed such a crime before the twentieth year of their age, after fifteen years spent in penance, let them begin to communicate in prayer only, and after another five years continuing in the communion of prayer alone, let them be received into communion with the offering after the twentieth year. But the life of those who were in the time of penance is also to be examined, and so let them obtain this leniency; but if any have abused this crime more persistently, let them undergo penance for a longer time, that is, for twenty years, in penance alone.

But all who have fallen into this crime when they have passed the age of twenty years and have wives, after performing penance for twenty-five years, let them be admitted to the communion of prayers; and persevering in this communion of prayers for another five years, let them receive full communion with the offering. But if any, both having wives and passing the fiftieth year of their age, have fallen into this, let them merit only communion at the departure of life.

XVII. Concerning those who lived like dumb animals.

But these same men, not only those made lepers by this kind of crime, but also others who fill themselves with this their disease, it has pleased that they pray among those who are tossed by storms, who are understood by us as energumens.

XVIII. Concerning bishops who, having been ordained, are not received.

If any bishops have not been received by their diocese in which they had been assigned, let them be compelled by the edict of the judge to return to the same; but if they wish to occupy other churches and to do violence to other bishops whom they find there, stirring up seditions against them, these ought to be separated. But if they wish to reside in the presbyterate in the church where they were before, as presbyters, let them not be driven from their own dignity; but if they are proved to stir up seditions there also against the bishops established in that place, it is necessary that they be separated and nonetheless deprived of the dignity of the presbyterate.

XIX. Concerning those who profess virginity.

All who have promised virginity and have violated it, despising their profession, must be reckoned among the digami, that is, those who have passed to second marriages. But we forbid virgin girls who wish to live as sisters with certain men from their company.

XX. Concerning adulterers.

If anyone has committed adultery, after completing seven years in penance, let him be restored to perfection according to the former degrees.

XXI. Concerning women who, having fornicated, kill their offspring.

Concerning women who fornicate and kill their offspring, and also concerning those who act upon themselves so as to expel what has been conceived in the womb, the ancient definition indeed removed them from the Church until the end of life; but now we define more humanely, that a period of ten years of penance be granted to them.

XXII. Concerning those who willingly commit homicide.

Those who have willingly committed homicide should indeed commit themselves continually to penance; but near the end of life let them be held worthy of communion, and let them do penance for ten years.

XXIII. Concerning those who have committed homicide unwillingly.

But those who have committed homicide not by will but by chance, the earlier rule indeed admitted to communion after a penance of seven years, according to the established degrees; but this more humane definition grants a period of five years.

XXIV. Concerning those who live according to the custom of the gentiles.

Those who observe auguries, auspices, or dreams, or any divinations whatsoever according to the custom of the gentiles, or introduce men of this kind into their houses for the purpose of inquiring into certain matters by the malefic art, or so that they may purify their houses; having confessed, let them do penance for five years according to the ancient established rules.

XXV. Concerning him who has violated the sister of his betrothed.

If anyone having a betrothed woman has perhaps brought violation upon her sister, and has clung to her as though to his own, and that the union be sought by him, but she being deceived, he afterwards has taken the betrothed as wife; but that one who has suffered vile things, if perhaps she has brought death upon herself: all these who are conscious of this deed are to be reduced to penance for ten years according to the established canons.

III. THE COUNCIL OF NEOCAESAREA

Held by nineteen bishops.

And these canons are indeed second to those set forth at Ancyra and Caesarea, but they are found to be earlier than the Nicene canons. Now those whose names are written below assembled in the aforementioned synod of the city of Neocaesarea: Vitalis, Germanus, Sedus, Eristius, Lupus, Gerontius, Leontius, Sanctus, Basiliscus, Valentinus, Stephanus, Gregorius, Salaminus, Narcissus, Leontius, Longinus, Decasius, Heraclius, Alipius; by whom these rules which are written below were brought forth.

I. That presbyters may not take a wife.

If a presbyter has taken a wife, he ought to be deposed from his order; but if he has committed fornication or adultery, he ought to be cast out beyond the Church and reduced to penance among the laity.

II. Concerning a woman: that it is not lawful to marry two brothers.

If a woman has married two brothers, she ought to be cast out until the day of her death; but on account of humanity she ought to be reconciled with the sacraments in her final extremity, yet in such a way that if perchance she recovers her health, the marriage being dissolved, she is admitted to penance. But if the woman has died while established in a union of this kind, penance will be difficult for the one who remains; and this sentence ought to bind both men and women.

III. Concerning those who have been in communion with multiple marriages.

Concerning those who frequently take wives and those who marry more often, it is indeed manifest that the time appointed for them is to be observed; but their manner of life and faith will shorten the time.

IV. Concerning unconsummated desire.

If a man has desired a woman, and even if he has the desire for intercourse with her, yet the effect does not follow, it is manifest that he has been freed through divine grace.

V. Concerning catechumens who sin.

A catechumen, that is, a hearer, who enters the church and stands with the catechumens, if he is seen to sin, let him bow his knees and hear the word, but let him abstain from the sin which he committed; but if he persists in it, he ought to be cast out altogether.

VI. Concerning the baptism of pregnant women.

Concerning pregnant women: since it is proper that they be baptized when they wish, for nothing in this sacrament is shared between the woman about to give birth and that which has been brought forth from her womb; because in that confession the freedom of each one's will is declared.

VII. Concerning presbyters: that they may not go to second marriages.

A presbyter ought not to take part in the banquet of second marriages, especially since it is sought to grant penance to second marriages. Who, then, is the presbyter who on account of a banquet consents to such marriages?

VIII. That the husband of an adulterous wife may not become a cleric.

If it has been proven that anyone's wife committed adultery while he was a layman, he cannot be admitted to the ecclesiastical ministry. But if, when he was already established in the clergy, she committed adultery, he ought to dismiss her with a bill of repudiation; but if he wishes to retain her companionship, he cannot enjoy the ministry he has undertaken.

IX. Concerning presbyters preoccupied by bodily sin.

Whoever has committed a bodily sin, and was afterward ordained a presbyter, if he has confessed that he sinned before his ordination, let him indeed not offer; but let him remain in the other offices for the sake of the usefulness of his diligence; for most have been accustomed to deprive even of ordination for other sins as well. But if he has not confessed these things, nor can be manifestly convicted by anyone, the power is to be permitted to this very man concerning himself.

X. Concerning deacons overtaken by bodily sin.

Likewise also a deacon, if he has been entangled in the same kind of fault, shall restrain himself from the ministry.

XI. That a presbyter under thirty years of age is by no means to be ordained.

A presbyter is not to be ordained before the age of thirty years, even though he be of approved life, but let him wait until the appointed time; for the Lord was baptized in his thirtieth year, and then he preached.

XII. Concerning those who are baptized in sickness.

If anyone has been baptized while laid low in sickness, he ought not to be ordained a presbyter; for his faith is not a voluntary son but one of necessity: unless perhaps afterward his own zeal and faith should be approved, or a scarcity of men should compel it.

XIII. Concerning presbyters of another region.

Presbyters who are not of the same region, in the church, in the presence of the bishops or presbyters of the city, shall not be able to offer nor to give the bread, but in the prayer they shall give the cup. But if the priests of the city are absent and he has been invited, he alone shall be able to give it in the prayer; moreover, the vicars of bishops, whom the Greeks call chorepiscopi, have indeed been appointed after the example of the seventy elders, but as fellow priests, on account of their care and zeal for the poor, let them offer and be held in honor.

XIV. Concerning the seven deacons.

There ought to be seven deacons according to the rule, however great the city may be; and the authority for this rule will be the Book of the Acts of the Apostles.

IV. THE COUNCIL OF GANGRA.

ISSUED AFTER THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA BY FIFTEEN BISHOPS.

To the honorable lords and fellow priests established in Armenia, Eusebius, Eulalius, Olympius, Philetus, Pappus, Basilius, Bithynicus, Hieracius, Hypatius, Bassus, Eugenius, Gregorius, Aelianus, Presius, and Eugenius, who assembled in the Council of Gangra, send greeting in the Lord. Since the holy synod of bishops, having assembled in the church of Gangra to investigate certain ecclesiastical and necessary matters, and to discern those things which were done according to Eustathius, found that many things were being done improperly by those very persons who followed this same Eustathius, it necessarily decreed, all things having been made public, to cut off all the evils that were wickedly committed by him. For it was declared that these same persons accuse marriage and teach that no one placed in the married state has hope with God; from which it came about that many women, having been seduced, abandoned their own husbands, and men, having been deprived of their wives, dissolved the bond of marriage, professing continence, which, since they could not keep it, they committed adultery.

There have also been found those who teach dissensions and separations from the Lord's ordinances of the Churches of God—that is, that ecclesiastical traditions and the things done in the churches ought to be despised—setting up private conventicles, and presuming and celebrating all things in imitation of those things that are done in the house of God; furthermore, spurning common clothing, they have assumed new and unusual habits; they have also claimed for themselves the firstfruits of fruits and their offerings, which the institution of the ancients assigned to the churches—that is, by their own reasoning they hold that these ought to be offered to them as to holy ones, to be dispensed by themselves and among themselves; slaves withdrawing from their masters, and under the guise of religion, through this unusual habit of their region, have despised their masters; women also, contrary to custom and the adornment of their sex, believing that by this they are justified, have taken up a manly habit, and many of them, on the occasion of religion, have cut off entirely the hair of their natural beauty; despising the fasts that are preached in the church, they have served the belly; some of them also have rejected foods of meats as if unlawful.

they persuaded them that prayers ought not even to be celebrated in married households, to such an extent that they wish them to be performed there, and they decree that one must by no means communicate in the offerings which have been made in households; they say that presbyters who have contracted marriages ought to be despised, and that the sacraments which are confected by them ought not to be received; they condemn the places of the holy martyrs or basilicas, and reproach all who assemble there and confect the sacraments; that faithful rich persons who do not renounce all that they possess have no hope; and many other things, which it is possible for no one to enumerate, each and every one of them establishing according to his own judgment. For each one of them, departing from the ecclesiastical canon through such an institution, has laid down for himself, as it were, his own laws. But there is not one common sentence for all these; for each one, striving to accuse the church according as it seems and pleases him, as though there were no ruler, either adds decrees or diminishes them. On account of these things, therefore, this council, held in the church of Gangra, was compelled to set forth these canons, by which those mentioned are proved to be outside the church; but if through penitence they have condemned all these things which they have wrongly understood, as things not well brought forth by them, let them become acceptable, and for that reason the synod has believed that the individual things which they ought to condemn are to be set forth.

But if anyone has refused these things which have been established today, let him be cast out as a condemned and damned heretic, and he shall be not only excluded from communion, but also held as an outcast from the church, until he entreats the bishops and has disclosed concerning all the things which have been detected and rejected in their presence, which of these he has undertaken to observe.

I. Concerning those who condemn marriage.

If anyone has brought marriage into accusation, and has believed a faithful and religious woman sleeping with her husband to be abominable or even to be accused, as though married persons cannot enter the kingdom of God, let him be anathema.

II. Concerning those who condemn those who eat meat.

If anyone has believed that one who eats meat in faith with religion, apart from blood and what has been sacrificed to idols and what has been strangled, is to be condemned, as though he has no hope because he eats it, let him be anathema.

III. That a servant ought not, on the occasion of religion, to despise his master.

If anyone, on the pretext of religion, teaches another man's slave that he ought to despise his own master and abandon his service, and has not rather taught him to serve his own master in good faith and with all honor, let him be anathema.

IV. Concerning the offering of a married presbyter.

If anyone judges a married presbyter unfit to offer on the pretext of his marriage, and for that reason abstains from his offering, let him be anathema.

V. That the prayers of the Church must not be despised.

If anyone teaches that the house of God is to be contemptible, and the assemblies that are held in it, let him be anathema.

VI. That it is not permitted to assemble outside the church.

If anyone privately gathers the people outside the church and despises the ecclesiastical sanctions and the church itself, and acts on his own without the counsel of the bishop together with the presbyters, let him be anathema.

VII. Concerning the fruits to be given to the church and not elsewhere.

If anyone wishes to receive or give outside the church the offerings of fruits or the firstfruits due to the church, without the knowledge of the bishop or of him to whom such offices have been entrusted, and has not rather thought that these things ought to be dealt with by his counsel, let him be anathema.

VIII. Concerning those things which are contributed to the use of the poor.

If anyone has given or received the offerings of fruits apart from the bishop, or apart from the one who has been appointed by him to dispense mercy to the poor, let both the one who gives and the one who receives be anathema.

IX. That one who devotes himself to virginity ought not to execrate marriage.

If anyone who has professed virginity or continence judges marriage as abominable, and not for this reason alone, that continence and virginity are a good and holy purpose, let him be anathema.

X. Concerning those who are proud on account of virginity.

If anyone who has professed virginity for God's sake has reproached those placed in marriage through arrogance, let him be anathema.

XI. That the agape of the brethren ought not to be despised.

If anyone has deemed those who hold an agape contemptible, and who for the honor of the Lord gather the poor brethren, and has refused to share in their invitations, as though reducing what is done to nothing, let him be anathema.

XII. Concerning those who practice continence and the use of cloaks.

If any man has thought that it accords with a holy purpose, that is, of continence, to wear a cloak, as though he would obtain righteousness from it, and reproaches or judges others who with reverence wear birri and other common garments that are in use, let him be anathema.

XIII. That a woman ought not to usurp male attire for the sake of continence.

If any woman, judging this useful for her purpose, wears male clothing, to the end that she imitates the attire of a man, let her be anathema.

XIV. That one who condemns marriage ought not to depart from her husband.

If any woman, having abandoned her husband, wishes to depart, the bond of marriage being dissolved, by condemning marriage, let her be anathema.

XV. That no one ought to neglect his children for the sake of continence.

If anyone has abandoned his own children and has not provided for them, and has not supplied what is necessary according to the demands of piety, but has thought them to be neglected on the pretext of continence, let him be anathema.

XVI. That children are not to despise their parents on the pretext of religion.

If any children have abandoned their parents, especially faithful ones, on the occasion of the worship of God, judging this to be just, and have not rather rendered due honor to their parents, so as to reverence in them this very thing, that they are faithful, let him be anathema.

XVII. That it is not lawful for a woman to shave her head.

Whatever woman, judging that it accords with religion, has cut off her hair, which God gave her for a covering and for the remembrance of subjection, as though dissolving the rights of subjection, let her be anathema.

XVIII. That it is not lawful to fast on the Lord's day.

If anyone, judging that this accords with continence, has fasted on the Lord's day in contempt of that same day, let him be anathema.

XIX. That it is not lawful to break common fasts.

If any of those who are in the purpose of continence, beyond bodily necessity, is proud and has thought the common fasts of the whole Church to be despised, vindicating a perfect reason in his own knowledge, let him be anathema.

XX. That communion is to be held in the basilicas of the martyrs.

If anyone, out of pride, esteeming himself as perfect, either has condemned the assemblies that are held in various places and in the basilicas of the holy martyrs, or has even believed that the offerings celebrated in those same places are to be despised, and that the memorials of the saints are to be contemned, let him be anathema.

But we have written these things, not cutting off those who in the Church of God, according to the Scriptures, choose a holy purpose of continence, but those who look askance at the habit of such a one and are carried into pride against those who live more simply. But we condemn those who exalt themselves against the Scriptures and the ecclesiastical canons and introduce new precepts.

But we admire virginity together with humility, and we call continence with chastity and religion most acceptable to God, and we praise the renunciation of worldly affairs and activities, a departure with humility, as to be approved, and we honor the bond of marriage which according to chastity endures with itself, and we do not cast aside the rich with justice and good works, and we do not reject frugality with humble clothing: just as we also praise adornment without artificial coloring for the sake of care of the body, but we do not accept loose and broken gait in clothing; and we honor the houses of God, and we receive the assemblies that take place in them as holy and useful, not confining piety to private houses, and we honor every place built in the name of God, and we receive the congregation made in the church for common utility; and we bless the good works that are performed beyond one's strength toward poor brothers according to ecclesiastical traditions, and we desire that all things which accord with the apostolic traditions and the precepts of the holy Scriptures be done in the church.

V. THE COUNCIL OF SARDICA.

OF THREE HUNDRED BISHOPS AND THE CANONS ESTABLISHED IN IT.

33-34 In the sixth year of the emperor Constantius, with Leontius and Sallustius as consuls, in the era 371, the Synod of Sardica was assembled, where all the Arian bishops throughout the East were condemned, who, when summoned to the council, refused to attend because of the guilt of their conscience; in which council, among other things, these rules were established for ecclesiastical discipline.

I. That a bishop ought not to transfer himself to another city.

Bishop Hosius said: A bad custom, no less than a pernicious corruption, must be eradicated from the ground up, so that it may not be permitted to any bishop to pass from his own city to another city. For the cause by which they attempt to do this is manifest, since no bishop has been found in this matter who would pass from a greater city to a lesser; whence it appears that they are inflamed with the ardor of avarice and serve ambition, and that they may exercise domination. If, therefore, it pleases all that this kind of pestilence be punished more severely, let him who is such have no lay communion.

All said: It pleases us, even if some such man has been so reckless as perhaps to offer the excuse that he received letters from the people, since it is manifest that a few who do not hold the sincere faith could have been corrupted by reward and payment, so that they cried out in the church as though they seemed to be asking for him as bishop: I judge that these frauds are altogether to be condemned, so that such a man shall not even receive lay communion at the end; and if this pleases you all, decree it. All said: It pleases us.

II. That a bishop not pass from one province to another unless he has been invited.

Bishop Hosius said: Let this also be decreed, that a bishop not pass from his own province to another province in which there are bishops, unless perhaps he has been invited by his brothers, lest we seem to have closed the door of charity.

III. Concerning two bishops of one province having a dispute between themselves.

Bishop Hosius said: Provision must also be made that if in some province a bishop happens to have a suit against his brother bishop, one of the two shall not summon bishops from another province to the judgment.

IV. Concerning a bishop who has been judged.

Bishop Hosius said: But if any bishop has been judged in some case, and he thinks that he has a good case, and that the judgment should be renewed again, if it pleases you, let us honor the memory of the holy apostle Peter, so that it may be written either by those who examined the case, or even by other bishops who dwell in the neighboring province, to the Roman bishop; and if he judges that the judgment ought to be renewed, let it be renewed, and let him appoint judges; but if he determines that the case is such that the matters which have been done should not be reopened, what the Roman bishop has decreed shall be confirmed. If, therefore, this pleases all, let it be established. The Synod answered: It pleases.

V. Concerning bishops deposed by a synod.

Bishop Gaudentius said: There must be added, if it pleases you, to this sentence which you have brought forth full of holiness, that when any bishop has been deposed by the judgment of those bishops who dwell in neighboring places, and has proclaimed that he has a matter to be conducted in the city of Rome, another bishop shall not at all be ordained in the same see after the appeal of him who appears to have been deposed, unless the case has been determined in the judgment of the Roman bishop.

VI. Concerning the same matters as above.

Bishop Hosius said: If it happens in a province in which there were two bishops that one of them perhaps remains as bishop, but he, through negligence, is unwilling to ordain a bishop, and the people have assembled, the bishops of the neighboring province ought first to summon that bishop who resides in the same province, and to show that the people are asking for a ruler for themselves, and that it is just that he too should come and ordain a bishop together with him. But if, having been summoned by letter, he keeps silent and dissembles and writes back nothing, then the people must be satisfied, so that they come from the neighboring province and ordain a bishop; but again, permission is not to be given indiscriminately. For if suddenly either some village or a small city, for which one presbyter is sufficient, wishes to have a bishop ordained for itself, to the end that the name and authority of bishop be cheapened, those invited from another province ought not to make a bishop for it, unless either in those cities which have had bishops, or if some city or place is so populous that it deserves to have a bishop. The synod responded: It pleases.

VII. Concerning accused bishops.

Bishop Hosius said: And this too has pleased us, that if a bishop has been accused, and the assembled bishops of that region have judged him and deposed him from his rank, and he who seems to have been deposed has appealed and fled to the most blessed bishop of the Roman Church, and has wished to be heard, if the Roman bishop thinks it just that the examination be renewed, he should deign to write to the bishops who are in the neighboring and adjacent province, and they themselves should diligently inquire into everything and determine according to the truth of the faith. But if he who asks that his case be heard again has moved the Roman bishop by his entreaty to send presbyters from his side, it shall be in his power to decide what he wishes and what he judges fitting; and if he has decreed that those who shall judge in person with the bishops are to be sent, so that they also have the authority of the person by whom they were sent, it shall be in his discretion; but if he believes that the provincial bishops suffice to put an end to the matter, he shall do what he judges by his most wise counsel.

VIII. That bishops are not to proceed everywhere to the imperial court.

Bishop Hosius said: The excessive frequency of our importunity and unjust judgment have made petitions, so that we do not have as much favor or confidence, while certain bishops do not cease to go to the court, and especially the Africans, who, as we have learned, spurn and despise the salutary counsels of our most holy brother and fellow bishop Gratus, and not only bring many and various causes to the court that will not profit the Church, as is wont to happen, or as it ought, so that help may be given to the poor, or widows, or orphans, but they also seek secular dignities and administrative offices for certain persons. This depravity has therefore long ago stirred up not only murmurings but also scandals. It is honorable, however, that a bishop extend his intercession to those who are oppressed by some unjust force, or if a widow is afflicted or an orphan despoiled, yet all these things only if they have a just cause and petition. If therefore this pleases you, dearest brothers, decree that bishops are not to approach the court, unless perhaps those who have been either invited or summoned by letters of the most religious emperor. But since it often happens that those who suffer injury flee to the mercy of the Church, and those who sin are condemned to exile or to islands, or certainly whoever receives a sentence, and therefore help must be given and indulgence must without doubt be sought for them through the Church: if therefore this pleases you, let it be established.

All said: It pleases us, and let it be established.

IX. Concerning the matters above.

Bishop Hosius said: Your prudence must also consider this, that since you have decreed that a bishop is not to be marked with disgrace for going to the imperial court, therefore whoever has or has received petitions of the kind we mentioned above should send them through his deacon; for the person of a minister will not be invidious, since he can more quickly report what he has obtained. And it seems to follow from this that each one who has petitions should send them to our brothers and fellow bishops who reside in the greatest city, that is, in the metropolis, and that he should dispatch them through his own deacons, giving letters of recommendation in like manner to our brothers and fellow bishops who at that time are staying in those regions and cities in which the blessed and happy Augustus governs the state. But if any of the bishops has friends in the palace and desires to obtain something, provided it is honorable, let him not be forbidden to ask and make it known through his deacon to those whom he knows can kindly assist him by their intercession in his absence. But whoever comes to Rome, as has been said, should hand over the petitions he has to our most holy brother and fellow bishop of the Roman Church, so that he may first examine whether they are honorable and just, and may provide diligence and care that they be carried to the imperial court. All said that the counsel pleased them and was honorable.

X. Concerning the matters above.

Bishop Alypius said: If they have undertaken the hardships of travel on behalf of orphans and widows, or of laborers who have not unjust causes, they will have some just reason; but now, since they seek those things which cannot be without the ill will and reproach of all, it is not necessary that they go to the court.

XI. Concerning the matters above.

Bishop Gaudentius said: Those things which you have salutarily provided, agreeable and esteemed by all, and pleasing to God and to men, can retain their force up to this point only if fear is joined to this sentence. For we ourselves know that very often, on account of the shamelessness of a few, the sacred and religious name of priest has been reproached. If, therefore, anyone, striving against the judgment of all, wishes to please ambition rather than God, he ought to know that, with his reasons having been rendered, he will lose his honor and dignity. But this can be known and discovered if each one of us who is stationed in the canal, when he sees a bishop advancing, inquires into his passage, examines his reasons, and learns where he is heading; and if indeed he recognizes that he is going to the court, let him require that which was comprehended above, lest perhaps he has been invited, so that the opportunity of going may be permitted to him; but if not, as your holiness mentioned above, he has attempted to go to the court on account of desires and ambitions, let there be no subscription to his letters, nor is he to be received into communion.

If it pleases you, the judgment of all ought to be confirmed. All said that this is honorable and that the constitution pleases them.

XII. Concerning the matters above.

Bishop Osius said: But moderation is also necessary, most beloved brothers, lest some, still not knowing what has been decreed in the synod, come suddenly to those cities which are on the canal; the bishop of that city ought to admonish and instruct him, so that from that place he send a deacon; yet, once admonished, he himself should return to his own parish.

XIII. That no one from among the laity be ordained bishop.

Bishop Osius said: I judge it necessary that it be treated most diligently, if perhaps either a rich man or a scholar from the forum or one from among the administrators should be requested as bishop, that he not be ordained first, unless he has previously performed both the office of lector and the duty of deacon and of presbyter; and so through each individual grade, if he is worthy, let him ascend to the summit of the episcopate.

For through these promotions, which certainly have a lengthy period of time, it can be proven with what faith, modesty, gravity, and reverence one conducts himself, so that if he is proven worthy, he may be adorned with the divine priesthood. For it is neither fitting, nor does reason or discipline permit, that a bishop or presbyter or deacon who is a neophyte be ordained rashly and lightly, especially since the most blessed Apostle, teacher of the Gentiles, appears to have warned and forbidden that this be done; but rather those whose life has been examined over a long period and whose merits have been approved. All said that these things pleased them.

XIV. That a bishop should not linger in another province.

Bishop Osius said: You ought also to establish this, that when a bishop from another city comes to another city, or from his own province to another province, and serves ambition rather than devotion, so that if he wishes to reside for a long time in another city, and it happens that the bishop of that city is not so well instructed nor so learned, and the one who has arrived begins to despise him and frequently to speak, so as to dishonor and weaken his person, on which occasion it comes about that he does not hesitate to abandon the church assigned to him and pass over to another—therefore define a time, because both to refuse to receive a bishop, one's fellow bishop, is inhuman, and to reside too long is pernicious. Therefore provision must be made that this not happen.

But I remember that in a previous council our brothers decreed that if any layman in the city where he resides had not attended the assembly of the Lord on three Lord's Days, that is, for three weeks, he should be deprived of communion. If, then, these things have been decreed concerning laymen, how much more is it neither lawful nor fitting that a bishop, if he has no necessity so grave nor any reason so difficult, should be absent so long from his church and sadden his people? All said that this pleased them.

XV. Concerning bishops who have possessions in another province.

Bishop Hosius said: Since nothing ought to be omitted, there are certain brothers and fellow bishops of ours who do not possess property in the city in which they are seen to have been appointed bishops, or at least have little there where they live, but are known to have suitable estates elsewhere, or affections for relatives to which they indulge. To this extent, therefore, it ought to be permitted them that they may go to their possessions and arrange and order the fruit of their labor, so that after three Lord's Days, that is, after three weeks, if it is necessary to stay, they may rather dwell on their own estates; and if there is a nearby city in which there is a presbyter, let them go there, lest they seem to keep the Lord's Day without a church, so that neither their domestic affairs suffer loss through his absence, and by coming frequently to another city in which there is a bishop, they do not incur suspicion of boasting and ambition. All said that this pleased them.

XVI. Concerning the excommunication of clerics.

Bishop Hosius said: If this also pleases all, that if a deacon, or a presbyter, or any of the clerics has been deprived of communion by his own bishop, and has gone to another bishop, and that bishop to whom he has fled knows that he was cast out by his own bishop, he ought not to grant him communion; but if he does so, let him know that he will have to give an account of his actions to the assembled bishops. All said: This statute will both preserve peace and maintain concord.

XVII. That clerics, if they have been unjustly excommunicated, may approach neighboring bishops.

Bishop Hosius said: What still moves me I must not keep silent about: if perhaps some bishop, being irascible—which he ought not to be—is quickly or harshly stirred against his presbyter or deacon and wishes to expel him from the Church, provision must be made lest an innocent man be condemned or lose communion; and therefore he who has been cast out should have the power to appeal to neighboring bishops, and his case should be heard and treated with diligence, because audience ought not to be denied to one who asks; and that bishop who has cast him out, whether justly or unjustly, should patiently accept that the matter be examined, so that his sentence may either be approved by many or corrected. Nevertheless, before all things have been carefully and faithfully examined, no other person ought to presume to receive him who had been separated from communion and to associate him with communion.

But those who have come together to hear, if they perceive the arrogance and pride of the clerics—since it is not fitting that a bishop should suffer either injury or insult—let them rebuke them with rather stern words, that they may obey the bishop when he commands what is honorable; because just as he ought to show sincere love and charity to the clerics, so in turn the ministers ought to show unfeigned obedience to their own bishop.

XVIII. That it is not permitted for a bishop to ordain the cleric of another.

Bishop Januarius said: Let your holiness also decree this, that no bishop may be permitted to solicit an ecclesiastic of another city and ordain him as a cleric in his own diocese, because from these contentions discord is wont to arise; and therefore the sentence of all forbids that anyone should dare to do this.

XIX. Concerning the matters above.

Bishop Hosius said: And this we all have established, that whoever from another parish wishes to ordain another's minister without the consent of that bishop himself and without his will, his ordination shall not be valid. But whoever has usurped this ought both to be admonished and corrected by our brothers and fellow bishops.

XX. That foreign clerics should not delay at Thessalonica.

Aetius the bishop said: You are not unaware how great and of what sort the city of the Thessalonians is: presbyters and deacons often come to it from other regions, and they are not content to stay or reside there for a short time, or at least they are scarcely compelled to return to their own after long periods. All said: those times which have been established regarding bishops should also be observed with respect to their persons.

XXI. Clerics who have suffered violence or persecution, if they have come to another city, are not to be forbidden to remain there as long as they are able to return.

Osius the bishop said: At the suggestion of our brother and fellow bishop Olympius, this also has pleased us: that if anyone has suffered violence and been unjustly driven out for the sake of discipline or the catholic defense or the confession of the truth, fleeing dangers as an innocent man and having come to another city, he is not to be prohibited from staying there as long as he is either able to return or his injury has received a remedy; for it is hard that one who suffers persecution should not be received: indeed, even a generous benevolence and humanity is to be shown to him.

VI. COUNCIL OF ANTIOCH.

Of thirty-one bishops.

The holy and most peaceable synod, gathered as one, to the unanimous holy and fellow-priests throughout the individual provinces: greeting in the Lord. The grace and truth of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, visiting the holy Church of Antioch and binding it into one through the concord of the most peaceable Spirit, accomplished many other things indeed; but in all things, with the holy and peacemaking Spirit prompting, it also accomplished this: that the things which seemed right to be established with the greatest consideration and judgment, together with all of us bishops gathered at Antioch into one from diverse provinces, should be brought to your knowledge. We believe, moreover, in the grace of the Lord and in the holy Spirit of peace, that you also will be of one mind with us, as if you had been made one power, and striving together with us in prayers, being the more fortified, and present in the Holy Spirit, consenting to those very things which have been defined and confirming the things which seemed right, you will ratify them with the consent of the Holy Spirit. Now the ecclesiastical canons prefixed are those written below.

In which synod there were bishops: Eusebius, Niceta, Antiochus, Archelaus, Isicius, Jacobus, Aeneas, Bassus, Moyses, Macedonius, Theodorus, another Theodorus, Paulus, Eustachius, Manicius, Agapius, Alexander, Patritius, Petrus, Theodorus, Narcissus, Syricus, Manicius, Aetherius, Magnus, Alipius, Tarcodius, Mantus, Petrus, Anatolius, and Chirion, from the provinces of Coele-Syria, Phoenice, old Arabia, Mesopotamia, Cilicia, and Isauria; and they established the things which are written below.

I. That it is not permitted to celebrate Pascha at a different time, nor to celebrate it with the Jews.

All who dare to dissolve the rule of the holy and great Council of Nicaea, which was held in the presence of God and of the most beloved emperor Constantine, concerning the holy and saving festivity of Pascha of our Savior, ought to be excommunicated and cast out from the Church, especially if they persist in the zeal of contention to subvert those things which have been most excellently established; and these things indeed have been said concerning the laity.

But if any of the leaders of the Church, that is, either a bishop or a presbyter or a deacon, after this definition has dared, to the subversion of the peoples and the disturbance of the churches, to retain it and to wish to celebrate the Passover with the Jews, this holy synod has judged him to be, from this moment on, alien from the Church, as one who is not only guilty of his own sin, but has also stood forth as a subverter of others of corrupted mind and conduct; and not only must such a one be deposed from the priesthood and ministry, but also those who have dared to communicate with them after their condemnation; and those deposed must also be deprived of the honor that is external, which the holy canon and the priesthood of God has deserved.

II. That it is not permitted to despise the communion of the Church, or to communicate with the excommunicated.

All who enter the church of God and hear the sacred Scriptures, but do not communicate with the people in prayer, and also oppose the holy reception of the Lord's sacrament according to some private discipline of their own: these ought to be cast out from the Church, until, confessing, they show the fruit of repentance, and have entreated that, pardon being granted, they may deserve to be received. But it is not permitted to communicate with the excommunicated, nor to enter their houses, nor to pray with those who do not participate with the Church in prayer, nor is one who is excommunicated by one church to be received into another.

But if any of the bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, or even those who are held in the canon, shall be seen to communicate with the excommunicated, this man too must be deprived of communion, as one who confounds the rules of the Church.

III. That a cleric who migrates to another church ought not to remain there.

If any presbyter, or deacon, or any cleric whatsoever, having deserted his own church, shall believe he should pass over to another, and there gradually attempt to remain permanently where he has migrated, he ought not to minister further, especially if he has been exhorted by his bishop to return. But if even after the summons of his bishop he shall not obey, but shall persevere, he must be deposed from his office by all means, nor shall he ever have hope of restoration. If however another bishop shall receive one deposed for this fault, he himself also shall merit the penalty of rebuke from the common synod, as one who dissolves the ecclesiastical laws.

IV. That it is not permitted for a bishop or any cleric who has been deprived of office to minister.

If any bishop has been deposed by a synod, or a presbyter or deacon condemned by his own bishop, and has presumed to perform any act of the priesthood or sacred ministry, it shall no longer be permitted him either to have hope of restoration in another synod, or any place for assertion; but all who communicate with him are to be cast out from the Church, and especially if, after they knew that sentence had been pronounced against him, they obstinately communicated with him.

V. That clerics may not, in contempt of their bishop, gather separately.

If any presbyter or deacon, in contempt of his bishop, has separated himself from the Church and, with the people gathered privately at his own place, has dared to set up an altar, and nonetheless, though his bishop exhorts and recalls him once and again, has shown himself disobedient, he must be deposed by all means, nor let him ever hope to obtain a cure or to receive his own honor again. But if he also persists in disturbing and agitating the Church which is outside, he must be corrected as a seditious man.

VI. Concerning the excommunicated.

If anyone has been excommunicated by his own bishop, he ought not to be received first by others, unless he has been received by his own bishop, or he comes before a council and answers, and satisfies the synod, and it is decided under another sentence that he ought to be received. This also ought to be observed concerning laymen, presbyters, deacons, and all who are in the clergy.

VII. That no stranger be received without a letter.

No stranger among the clergy ought to be received without a formata, which the Greeks call an epistolium.

VIII. That only chorepiscopi make letters.

Nor are presbyters to give formatas, that is, canonical letters, to distant regions, but only to send simple letters to neighboring bishops; however, the vicars of bishops, who are called chorepiscopi by the Greeks, are permitted to make formatas.

IX. Concerning metropolitan bishops.

In each province, individual bishops ought to know that the metropolitan bishop who presides has undertaken the care and solicitude of the whole province; for which reason those who have cases undoubtedly assemble at the metropolitan city. Therefore it pleased them that he also take precedence in honor, and that the other bishops do nothing beyond him according to the ancient canon of our fathers which has prevailed, except only those things which belong to each church throughout its own diocese.

For each bishop must have authority also to govern his own diocese, according to the reverence due to him, and to provide for the region that is under his city; so that it is permitted him, by a judgment that is approved, even to ordain presbyters and deacons, and to decide concerning individual matters with moderation and weight. But beyond this nothing is permitted to be done without the knowledge of the metropolitan bishop, nor may the metropolitan do anything without the counsel of the other priests.

X. Concerning chorepiscopi.

Those who have been established as chorepiscopi in villages and country towns, although they have received the imposition of hands from bishops, the holy synod has resolved that they must know that they ought to retain their own proper measure and to govern the adjacent churches committed to them, and to be content with their own solicitude and governance which they have received. But it is permitted them to appoint lectors and subdeacons and exorcists, for whom it suffices to have received license for these grades only; but they shall not dare to ordain a presbyter or a deacon without the knowledge of the bishop, either of the city or of the church to which he himself is found to be adjacent, or the region in which he is known to preside. But if anyone shall dare to transgress what has been established, he must be deposed and deprived of the dignity with which he is endowed; but a chorepiscopus is to be ordained by the bishop of the city or of the place to which he is adjacent.

XI. Concerning those bishops or clerics who go to the emperor without letters of the bishops.

If any bishop, or presbyter, or anyone at all who is constituted under the ecclesiastical rule, shall have gone to the emperor without the counsel or letters of those bishops who are within the province, and especially of the metropolitan, he ought to be deposed and cast out not only from communion, but also deprived of his own dignity, as one troublesome and importunate to imperial ears against the ecclesiastical constitutions. But if necessity compels him to run to the emperor on account of some matter, he ought to go with the deliberation and counsel of the metropolitan of the province and with the knowledge of the other bishops who are in the same province, and with letters.

XII. Concerning deposed bishops or clerics.

If any presbyter or deacon has been deposed by his own bishop, or even if any bishop has been removed from office by a synod, let him not presume to bring trouble to imperial ears, but let him turn to a greater synod of bishops, and let him allege in their council the things which he thinks he has as just, and let him await from them the sentence that shall have been brought forth concerning him. But if, failing through faint-heartedness, he will not do this, but has been importunate to the emperor in this manner, let him have no pardon, nor place of his assertion, nor hope of receiving his rank in the future.

XIII. That bishops may not ordain clerics in another province.

No bishop ought to dare to cross from one province to another and ordain anyone in the churches, or promote anyone to the sacred ministry; nor should he draw other bishops there to follow him, unless perhaps he has gone having been asked by letters, not only by the metropolitan but by the bishops of the province who are with him. But if, with no one inviting him, he comes upon them in disorder and presumes either to ordain some or to attempt to usurp for himself any acts belonging to that church, though they pertain to him not at all, then indeed all that he has done shall be void and empty; but he himself shall pay fitting penalties for this undisciplined daring and irrational undertaking, as one deposed by the holy synod and already condemned beforehand on account of this kind of presumption.

XIV. Concerning accused bishops.

If any bishop has been accused in the judgment of bishops on certain criminal charges, and it happens that the bishops of the province who assembled hold differing opinions, some indeed pronouncing him innocent and others guilty, therefore, in order to cut off such a controversy, it has pleased the holy synod that the metropolitan bishop of another neighboring province be summoned, together with some other bishops, who, sitting together with him, shall decide whatever question there is, so that the judgment which has been promulgated by the bishops of one province may be firm.

XV. Concerning the same matters as above.

If a bishop who has been criminally accused receives one harmonious and concordant sentence from all the bishops who are within the province, he cannot be judged further by others; but the sentence which has been brought forth by all ought to remain concerning him, as being fitting, firm and ratified.

XVI. Concerning vacant bishops.

If any bishop, being without a see, comes to a vacant church and believes that it is to be seized by stealth without a full synod, he ought to be cast out, even if the people whom he has plundered wish to keep him as their bishop. But that synod shall be called full at which the metropolitan bishop also was present.

XVII. Concerning bishops who, having received the imposition of hands, do not agree to undertake the ministry.

If any bishop, having received the imposition of hands and having been appointed to preside over peoples, does not undertake the ministry of the priesthood, nor consent to go to the church in which he was ordained, he ought to be excluded from communion until, compelled, he consents to receive the people appointed to him, or a full synod of the bishops of the province decrees something concerning him.

XVIII. Concerning the same.

If any bishop who has been ordained does not go to the parish to which he was ordained, if this is not through his own fault but perhaps through the opposition of the people, he shall retain the honor he has received and perform the priesthood, provided that he bring no trouble to that church in which he had been established; but he ought to await the full synod of the province, until a decision is made concerning him as is fitting.

XIX. That it is not permitted to ordain a bishop without the counsel of the metropolitan bishop.

A bishop is not to be ordained without the counsel and presence of the metropolitan bishop, and it will be better if bishops are gathered from the whole province. But if this cannot be done, those who cannot be present shall designate their consent concerning him by their own letters, and then only after the judgment of the majority, whether by their presence or by letters, is in agreement, let him be ordained. But if it is done otherwise than has been established, an ordination of this kind is to have no validity. If, however, the ordination is celebrated even according to the defined rules, but some object on account of their own private and domestic quarrels, these being disregarded, the judgment of the majority concerning him shall prevail.

XX. That a synod be held twice a year.

On account of ecclesiastical causes and the controversies that arise, to be resolved, it has seemed sufficient that a council of bishops be held twice a year throughout each province: once indeed after the third week of the paschal festival, so that in the fourth week that follows, that is, in mid-Pentecost, the council be completed; and those who dwell in the larger, that is, in the metropolitan cities, shall admonish the fellow provincial bishops. But the second council is to be held on the Ides of October, which day is found among the Greeks as the tenth of the month Hyperberetaeus.

But it is fitting that both presbyters and deacons be present at the councils themselves, and all who reckon themselves to have been injured, and to await the synodal sentence; nor is it permitted to any to hold councils among themselves without the knowledge of the metropolitan bishops, to whom it is established that judgment over all such matters has been granted.

XXI. That a bishop ought not to pass from one diocese to another.

A bishop ought not to pass from one diocese to another, neither if he has thrust himself in, nor if he has been violently drawn by the peoples, nor even if this should be urged upon him by the bishops; but he ought to remain in the Church of God which he obtained by lot from the beginning, and not to migrate from it elsewhere, according to the rule established by the Fathers.

XXII. That a bishop ought not to rush into another's city.

A bishop ought not to rush into another's city which is proven not to be subject to him, nor into a region which is recognized in no way to belong to his care, to ordain anything, nor to appoint presbyters or deacons belonging to other bishops, unless perhaps with the counsel of the bishop of his own region; but if anyone of these should wish to attempt any such thing, such an ordination will indeed be invalid [E.: to be cast aside], and he who has wrongly usurped shall be censured by the synod.

XXIII. That it is not permitted for a bishop to appoint a successor for himself.

That it is not permitted for a bishop to appoint another as one who will be his successor, even though he be near to death: but if any such thing has been done, an ordination of this kind is to be void. He ought, moreover, to observe the ecclesiastical constitutions, which contain this: that a bishop cannot be made otherwise than in a council and with the consent of the bishops—of those, that is, who after the death of him who preceded have the power to promote him who is worthy.

XXIV. Concerning ecclesiastical and episcopal matters.

Whatever things belong to the Church, it is fitting that they be preserved with all diligence and good faith—that faith, namely, which is owed to God, who foresees and judges all things; and they ought to be governed and dispensed with the judgment and authority of the bishop, to whom the souls of the whole people are seen to have been entrusted. But those things which belong to the Church ought to be manifest to the presbyters and deacons—that is, those who are around him—so that they themselves may not be ignorant, nor anything of those things which are the Church's own lie hidden from them, so that if it happens that the bishop departs from this life, since the ecclesiastical matters are manifest and known, they may not perish and be lost.

But neither are the bishop's own property, as though liable on the occasion of ecclesiastical affairs, to be assailed by any injury to him; because it is just and fitting before the Lord that to him [the bishop] should be left the things that are the bishop's own, to whomever he himself shall judge, and that the things that are the church's should be preserved for it: for thus it comes about that neither is the Church afflicted with any loss, nor is the bishop prejudiced on the occasion of ecclesiastical affairs, nor do those belonging to him incur lawsuits, whereby after his death his memory may be burdened with any curses.

XXV. That a bishop has power in disposing of ecclesiastical affairs.

That a bishop has power over ecclesiastical affairs, to dispense to all the needy with all fear and reverence of God; and that he himself also ought to receive from them and use those things of which he has need, if indeed he has need, whether for his own necessities or for the expenses of the brethren who sojourn with him by reason of hospitality, so that in no respect may they be defrauded through want, according to the Apostle saying: Having daily food and clothing for the body, let us be content with these.

But if, in no way content with these things and considering them insufficient, he transfers ecclesiastical goods or any of the Church's revenues to domestic necessities, or gathers in the fruits of ecclesiastical lands for himself without the knowledge of the presbyters or deacons residing there, and gives power over those things to his own household, or even to relatives, or brothers, or sons, so that through their secret diligence the other churchmen appear to be cheated; he who is of this sort shall be obliged to answer for this offense before the metropolitan of the province. But if the bishop, or those presbyters who are with him, is reproved in such a way that it is said that they usurp for themselves the things that pertain to the Church, whether from lands or from any other ecclesiastical causes whatsoever, while the poor are oppressed by need and want, and from this very thing not only is the Church's account increased but also malediction and reproach against its stewards: these, therefore, ought to merit the correction that is fitting, with the holy synod taking cognizance.

Eusebius subscribed in person to all the things that were established. Theodore, Nicetas, Macedonius, Anatolius, Tharcodius, Mantus, Aetherius, Narcissus, Alipius, Archelaus, Bassus, Syricus, Eustachius, Mauricius, Hesychius, Manicius, Paulus, and the others whose names are already contained above in Greek, gave their consent.

VII. THE COUNCIL OF LAODICEA. ISSUED BY THE PRIESTS OF LAODICEA.

The holy synod at Laodicea of Phrygia Pacatiana, convened from various provinces of Asia, set forth ecclesiastical rules, as is written below.

I. Concerning digamists.

Concerning the matter that, according to the ecclesiastical canon, those who have been joined in a second marriage freely and lawfully, and have not brought about any secret union, after a short time has passed, should devote themselves to prayers and fastings, and communion should be restored to them according to indulgence.

II. Concerning those who fall into sins of various kinds.

To those who fall into sins of various kinds and persist in prayer, confession, and penitence, demonstrating a complete conversion from their evils, a time of penitence must be assigned according to the nature of the sin, on account of the mercy and goodness of God; those therefore who are of this sort are to be recalled and restored to communion.

III. That neophytes are not to be promoted to the priesthood.

A neophyte must not be promoted to the order of the priesthood.

IV. That it is not permitted for clerics to be made in the presence of catechumens.

The imposition of hands upon those ordained must not be celebrated in the presence of catechumens.

V. That clerics are not permitted to receive usury or sixfold interest.

It is not permitted for ministers of the altar, or for those established in the priestly order, to practice usury or to receive interest or profits which are called sixfold.

VI. That heretics are not permitted to enter the church.

It is not to be conceded to heretics to enter the house of God while they remain in heresy.

VII. Concerning the Novatians and Quartodecimans.

That the Novatians, or also the Quartodecimans, whom the Greeks call Tessareskaidekatitai, that is, those who celebrate Passover on the fourteenth day of the moon of the first month together with the Jews, and also their catechumens or faithful, are not to be received before they condemn every heresy, and most fully before all [they condemn] that in which they were held; and then those who are called faithful among them are to be taught the symbol of faith, and thus, having been anointed also with holy chrism, it will be fitting for them to communicate in the divine sacrament.

VIII. Concerning the Cataphrygians coming to the Church.

Those who are converted from the heresy which is called that of the Phrygians, and who consider themselves established in the clergy, although they are called great, ought with all diligence to be catechized and baptized by the bishops and presbyters of the Catholic Church.

IX. That Catholics ought not to enter those places which heretics call their martyries.

It is not to be conceded to catholics to enter the cemeteries, or the places called martyria, of heretics for the sake of prayer and of seeking a cure; but also those who have gone, if they are faithful, are to be made incommunicable and reduced to penance for some period of time; but those who repent and confess that they have erred ought to be received.

X. That a catholic ought not to be joined in marriage with a heretic.

Those who belong to the Church ought not indiscriminately join their own children in marriage with heretics.

XI. Concerning the canonical women of the church.

Women who among the Greeks are called presbyterae, but among us are called widowed elders, univirae and matriculariae, it shall not be permitted to establish in the church as if they were ordained.

XII. Concerning the ordaining of bishops with the counsel of the metropolitans and neighboring bishops.

Bishops ought not to be established to the leadership of the Church without the judgment of the metropolitans and neighboring bishops; nor are any to be chosen except those whom a praiseworthy life has long commended, and nonetheless if they have been approved in the word of faith and right reason through their manner of life.

XIII. That the peoples are not permitted to elect ministers of the altar.

On the matter that it is not for them to make an election of those who are to be appointed to the ministry of the altar.

XIV. That the holy oblations should not be sent to other provinces in place of eulogiae at the feast of Easter.

The holy oblations ought by no means to be sent to other parishes in place of eulogiae during the feast of Easter.

XV. Concerning the psalmists.

It shall not be permitted for anyone else to sing in the church besides the canonical psalmists who ascend the pulpit and read from the Codex.

XVI. That the holy Gospel is to be read even on the sabbaths.

The Gospels, together with the other Scriptures, are to be read on the sabbaths.

XVII. That the psalms are not permitted to be confounded at random.

In processions they are not to be joined together, that is, out of diverse verses and senses of the book they are by no means to be combined into one canticle, but the reading of each individual psalm ought to be made in order from the middle.

XVIII. On daily prayers.

That supplications of prayers ought always to be celebrated at the ninth hour and at vespers.

XIX. On the order of the prayers of the catechumens and of the faithful, and on communion.

That the prayer of the catechumens ought to be celebrated separately and first, after the sermon of the bishops; when these have gone out, those also who are established in penance should pray, and after the imposition of hands, when these too have withdrawn, then the faithful ought to pray, of whom there should be three prayers: one indeed, that is the first, in silence, but the second and third by the utterance of the voice, and then at last the kiss of peace ought to be given, and after the presbyters have given the peace to the bishop, then the laity also are to give it, and so the oblation is offered; but only the ministers of the altar may enter the altar and communicate.

XX. On the discipline and modesty of the clergy.

Since it is not fitting for a deacon to sit in the presence of a presbyter, but let him sit at the presbyter's command; in like manner let the deacon also be honored by the lower ministers and by all the clergy.

XXI. On the ministry of the subdeacons.

Since it is not fitting for the ministers to have license to enter the secretarium or sacrarium, which the Greeks call the diaconicon, and to touch the vessels of the Lord.

XXII. On the minister, that he not use the orarium.

It is not fitting for the minister to use the orarium, nor to leave the doors.

XXIII. That readers or psalmists ought not to use the orarium.

Since it is not fitting for readers or psalmists to use the orarium and so to read or sing psalms.

XXIV. On readers and psalmists, that they not enter taverns.

Since it is not fitting for those who serve at the altar, from presbyters all the way to deacons and thereafter all of the ecclesiastical order down to the ministers, or readers, or psalmists, or exorcists, or doorkeepers, or even those who are in a vow of continence, to enter taverns.

XXV. That it is not permitted for ministers to give the bread or bless the cup.

It is not fitting for ministers to give the bread or bless the cup.

XXVI. Concerning exorcists.

It is not fitting for those who have not yet been advanced by bishops to exorcise, neither in the churches nor within houses.

XXVII. That clerics or laymen invited to the agape ought not to take portions away.

It is not fitting for ministers of the altar, or any clerics whatsoever, or even laymen invited to the agape, to take portions away, on account of the injury which from this occasion could be assigned to the ecclesiastical order.

XXVIII. That it is not permitted to spread couches in the churches or to hold an agape.

It is not fitting to hold an agape in the churches of the Lord and to eat within, or to spread couches.

XXIX. That Christians ought not to keep the sabbath.

It is not fitting for Christians to judaize and to be idle on the sabbath, but they should work on that same day; but by preferring the Lord's day, that same day, if it pleases them, let them be idle as Christians. But if they shall be found to judaize, let them be anathema.

XXX. That it is not permitted for any Christian to use baths with women.

Since it is not fitting for ministers of the altar, or indeed any clerics or continent persons, but also for every Christian whatsoever, to use common baths with women: for this is the first reproach among the gentiles.

XXXI. Concerning the marriages of heretics to be avoided.

Since it is not fitting to contract marriages with any heretics, or to give sons or daughters, but rather to receive, if only they profess that they will be catholic Christians.

XXXII. That it is not permitted to receive eulogies from heretics.

It is not fitting to receive the blessings of heretics, since these are curses rather than blessings.

XXXIII. That one ought not to pray with heretics or schismatics.

It is not fitting to pray with heretics or schismatics.

XXXIV. That one ought not to go to false martyrs.

It is not fitting for any Christian, having abandoned the martyrs of Christ, to go to false martyrs, for these are alien to God: but whoever wishes to go, let him be anathema.

XXXV. That it is not permitted for Christians, having abandoned the Church, to gather congregations to the angels.

Since it is not fitting for Christians, having abandoned the Church of God, to go off to the angels and make gatherings of idolatry, all of which things are forbidden: but whoever shall be found secretly engaged in this idolatry, let him be anathema: since, forsaking our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, he has gone over to idols.

XXXVI. That it is not permitted for clerics to be magicians or enchanters, or to make phylacteries.

Since it is not fitting for ministers of the altar or clerics to be magicians or enchanters, or to make what are called phylacteries, which are great bonds upon souls: but those who use such things we have ordered to be cast out of the Church.

XXXVII. That it is not permitted to receive from heretics or Jews the festival gifts that are sent.

It is not fitting to receive from Jews and heretics the festival gifts that are sent, nor to keep festival days with them.

XXXVIII. That it is not permitted to receive unleavened bread from Jews.

It is not permitted to receive unleavened bread from Jews or to share in their impieties.

XXXIX. That it is not permitted to celebrate festivals with pagans.

It is not permitted to celebrate festivals with pagans or to have fellowship with their impiety.

XL. That bishops summoned to a synod ought not to disdain it.

Bishops who have been summoned to a synod ought not to disdain it, but should go and either teach or be taught what pertains to the correction of the Church and of others. But if he has disdained it, he will seem to have accused himself, unless perhaps through infirmity he is unable to go.

XLI. That a cleric or a layperson ought not to travel abroad without a letter.

It is not permitted for a minister of the altar or even a layperson to set out for any place without canonical letters, that is, formal letters.

XLII. That no cleric ought to travel abroad without the bishop's command.

It is not permitted for a minister of the altar or any cleric to set out for foreign parts beyond the command of the bishop.

XLIII. That ministers ought not to withdraw from the doors.

It is not fitting for ministers, that is, doorkeepers, to be absent from the doors even for a short time and to devote themselves to prayer.

XLIV. That no one ought to be received for baptism after the two weeks of Lent.

It is not fitting for anyone to be received for baptism after the two weeks of Lent.

XLV. That women ought not to approach the altar.

It is not fitting for women to approach the altar.

XLVI. That those to be baptized ought both to learn and to recite the creed of the faith.

Those to be baptized ought to learn the creed of the faith, and on the fifth day of the last week to recite it to the bishop or the presbyter.

XLVII. Concerning those who are baptized in sickness.

Those who, having been laid low by sickness, have received baptism, when they have become well, are to be taught the creed of the faith, so that they may know by what gift they are to be considered worthy.

XLVIII. That chrism is to be given after baptism.

It is fitting that those baptized, after baptism, also become partakers of the heavenly chrism and of the kingdom of Christ.

XLIX. That in Lent the offering is to be made only on Saturday and Sunday.

It is not fitting that bread be offered in Lent except on Saturday and Sunday only.

L. That it is not permitted to end Lent on the fifth day of the last week.

It is not fitting that Lent be ended on the fifth day of the last week and the whole of Lent be dishonored, but one should fast through all the days and use foods suited to abstinence, that is, drier ones.

LI. That in Lent the birthdays of the martyrs ought not to be celebrated except on Saturday and Sunday.

It is not fitting that the birthdays of the martyrs be celebrated in Lent, but their memory should be made only on Saturday and Sunday.

LII. That it is not permitted for marriages to take place in Lent.

It is not fitting in Lent to celebrate either marriages or any birthdays.

LIII. That it is not permitted for Christians going to weddings to sing or dance.

It is not fitting for Christians going to weddings either to dance or to leap about, but to dine or lunch chastely, as is fitting for Christians.

LIV. That it is not permitted for ministers of the altar to be present at spectacles.

It is not fitting for ministers of the altar, or any clerics whatsoever, to be present at any spectacles that are exhibited either at weddings or at banquets; but before the thymelici enter, they ought to rise from the feast and depart.

LV. That a cleric or a Christian layman ought not to hold banquets from contributions.

It is not fitting for ministers of the altar, or any clerics whatsoever, or even Christian laymen, to hold banquets from contributions, which the common people call commissalia.

LVI. That presbyters ought not to enter before the bishop's entrance.

It is not fitting for presbyters to enter before the bishop's entrance and to sit in the tribunals, but they should enter with the bishop, unless perhaps the bishop is ill, or it is established that he is abroad.

LVII. That bishops ought not to be ordained in villages and country estates.

It is not fitting for bishops to be ordained in villages and country estates, but visitors, that is, those who make the rounds, are to be appointed; moreover, those who have been ordained before this are to do nothing without the knowledge of the bishop of the city; similarly, presbyters also are to do nothing without the command and counsel of the bishop.

LVIII. That offerings ought not to be made in houses by bishops or presbyters.

It is not proper for offerings to be made in houses by bishops and presbyters.

LIX. That psalms composed by ignorant persons are not permitted to be sung in church: and which books are canonical.

It is not proper for psalms composed by ignorant and common persons to be sung in churches, nor to read books that are outside the canon, but only the canonical books of the New and Old Testament. But those which ought to be read and received as authoritative are these:

Genesis of the world. Exodus of Egypt. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. Joshua son of Nave. Judges. Ruth. Kings, four books. Paralipomenon, two books. Esdras. The book of Psalms, in number 150. Proverbs of Solomon. Ecclesiastes. Song of Songs. Job. Esther. The books of the sixteen prophets, that is: Hosea, Amos, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel.

Likewise. The books of the New Testament, that is, of the Gospels, four: according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John. The Acts of the Apostles. The canonical Epistles, seven: of James, one; of Peter, two, first and second; of John, three, first, second, and third; of Jude, one. The Epistles of the apostle Paul, in number fourteen: to the Romans, one; to the Corinthians, two; to the Ephesians, one; to the Thessalonians, two; to the Galatians, one; to the Philippians, one; to the Colossians, one; to Timothy, two; to Titus, one; to Philemon, one; to the Hebrews, one.

VIII. THE FIRST COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

Held against the Macedonian heresy by one hundred and fifty bishops under Theodosius the Elder, with Siagrius and Eucherius as consuls, in the year 418.

The rules or definitions set forth by the one hundred and fifty bishops who assembled together at Constantinople, when the blessed Nectarius was ordained bishop, after the condemnation of Maximus the Cynic, whose names and provinces are contained in the Greek.

I. That the faith of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers must be kept.

The faith of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers who assembled at Nicaea in Bithynia is not to be spurned, but it must remain ratified, and every heresy is to be anathematized, especially that of the Eunomians—or rather Anomians, who in Latin are called "without law"—and of the Arians or Eudoxians, and of the Semi-Arians, and also of the Pneumatomachi, that is, those who fight against the Holy Spirit, and of the Sabellians and Marcellians, and of the Photinians and Apollinarists.

II. That bishops govern their own dioceses and not encroach upon those of others.

Bishops who are outside their diocese shall not approach churches that lie beyond their boundaries, nor confuse and mix up churches; but according to the canons, the bishops of Alexandria shall govern only the affairs that are in Egypt; and the bishops of the East shall take care of the East alone, with the honors of the primacy of the Church of Antioch preserved, as is contained in the canons of the Synod of Nicaea; but also the bishops of the Asian diocese shall govern the affairs that are in Asia and that pertain only to the Asian diocese; and the bishops of Pontus shall have care of the Pontic diocese only; and those of Thrace, of Thrace itself only.