(c. IV of 1st C.; c. III of 7th C.).

The word Bishop primarily and properly is applied, in the divine and holy Scriptures, to God, who supervises and oversees all things in the universe [Note of Translator. — Here, as in many other similar cases, a word of explanation needs to be added in English for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the etymology of words; I observe, therefore, that the corresponding Greek word signifies "overseer."], as Job bears witness, saying: "This is the portion of an impious man from the Lord, and the heritage appointed to him by the Overseer" i.e., by God (Job 20:29). And again: "Thine oversight (or supervision) hath preserved my spirit" (ibid. 10:12). It is also applied to our Lord Jesus Christ, as the premier of Apostles Peter says concerning Him: "For ye were like sheep going astray; but have now returned unto the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls" (I Pet. 2:25). But secondarily and by grace this noun is also applied to those who have been designated by God, just as God Himself says concerning Eleazar: "Overseer Eleazar, a son of Aaron the priest" (Num. 4:16). And to Ezekiel God said: "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman over the house of Israel" (Ezek. 3:17). And, in sum, the word Overseers, or Bishops, in the Old Testament refers to supervisors and watchmen of the internal and ecclesiastical administrations and affairs, just as is written concerning the aforenamed Eleazar that he had "The oversight (i.e., supervision) of all the tabernacle" (Num. 4:16), and concerning the high priest Jehoiada that he appointed overseers over the house of the Lord: "And the priest appointed overseers over the house of the Lord" (II Kings 11:18); as well as of the external and civil affairs and administrations as supervisors, just as is written: "And Moses was wroth with the overseers of the host, with the captains over a thousand, and with the captains over a hundred" (Num. 31:14).

Not one, however, of the Apostles was designated or named a bishop, or overseer, during the earthly lifetime of the Lord, who alone is the overseer of our souls; but the only authority they exercised was that of curing every disease and casting out demons (Matt. 10:1; Mk. 3:15). But after the resurrection of our Savior from the dead and His assumpsion into heaven, the Apostles, who had been sent forth by Him, as He Himself had been sent forth by the Father, into all the world, and had received all authority to bind and to loose and all the gracious gifts of the All-holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, they not only possessed the name of apostle by virtue of the facts themselves, but indeed even the name of bishop, or overseer, as sacred Epiphanius bears witness (Her. 27): "First were Peter and Paul, these two Apostles and Bishops." Likewise did all the rest, as the Fathers affirm. For this reason it was that they ordained, or decreed, that city bishops be ordained by three bishops or two. But also those who were preaching in the country and city, as sacred Clement says, in his first epistle to the Corinthians: "They appointed their firstfruits, trying them with the Spirit, as bishops and deacons of those who were going to believe in the future." Hence, too, Ignatius the God-bearer, in writing to the faithful in Tralles (a Greek city in Asia Minor), commands: "Respect your Bishop, too, like Christ, in accordance with what the blissful Apostles enjoined." Thus much is all we have to say concerning the word bishop.

As for the Greek word corresponding to the English word ordain in the sense of appoint a person to an office, cheirotonia, it is etymologically derived from the Greek verb teino, meaning to stretch (forth the hands, for example); and it has two significations. For the word cheirotonia is used to name the simple action of choosing and designating one to hold a dignity of any kind, which was performed by tlie people by stretching forth their hands, according to that saying of Demosthenes: "Whomsoever you ordain a general" (in his ftrst Philippic). And especially in accordance with the custom in vogue in the Church in olden days, when the multitudes would crowd together unhindered and ordain, or, more plainly speaking, designate the chief priests, or bishops, by stretching forth their hands, as Zonaras says, though afterwards the council held in Laodicea forbade this in its fifth Canon, wherein it said: "That ordinations, or, in other words, designations, as signified by votes, must not be performed in the presence of listeners." Today, however, the word ordination (cheirotonia) signifies the sacrament involving prayers and an invocation of the Holy Spirit in the course of which a bishop lays his hand upon the head of the ordinee, in accordance with that Apostolic saying: "Lay not hands upon anyone too quickly" And this fact is familiar to all. So this Canon prescribes that every chief priest, or prelate (whether he be a metropolitan, that is to say, or an archbishop or merely a bishop) is to be ordained by two bishops or three. Apparently the figure of speech is that which is called in English "hysteron proteron," but in Greek prothysteron, meaning the placing of what would naturally come first in a later position, and vice versa. For it would have been simpler and more usual to say without the figure of speech: "A bishop must be ordained by three other bishops or (at least) two." Thus the Apostolical Injunctions (which some have inaccurately translated into English as "Apostolical Constitutions") promulgate the same Canon without any figure of speech by saying: "We command that a bishop be ordained by three (other) bishops, or at any rate by at least two."

Various other canons are in agreement with this Canon in their legislation. For all the bishops of a province (according to c. IV of the 1st C. and c. Ill of the 7th council and c. XIX of Antioch), or many (according to c. XIII of Carthage) must meet together and ordain a bishop. But since this is difficult, the required number is reduced to three as the minimum, and the rest of them participate in the ordination by means of their letters. In confirming this Ap. c. the c. LVIII of Carthage says that this ancient form shall be kept, in order that no less than three bishops may suffice for the ordination of a bishop, including, that is to say, the metropolitan and two other bishops. The same thing is said in c. I of the local synod held in Constantinople. And c. XII of Laodicea ordains that bishops should be appointed to the eccelsiastical office only with the approval of surrounding bishops. But if, by chance, only one bishop is left in office in any one province, and though invited and asked by the Metropolitan, he refuses to go or to act by letters to ordain a candidate for the prelacy, then the Metropolitan must designate and ordain him by means of bishops drawn from a neighboring foreign (i.e. outside) province, according to c. VI of the Sardican. The Apostolical Injunctions (Bk. VIII, ch. 27), on the other hand, command that anyone ordained by a single bishop be deposed from office along with the one who ordained him, except only in case of persecution or some other impediment by reason whereof a number of bishops cannot get together and he has to be ordained by one alone, just as was Siderius ordained bishop of Palaibisca, according to Synesius, not by three, but by one bishop, Philo, because of the scarcity of bishops in those times.

(c. XIX of Antioch; c. XII of Laodicea; c. VI of the Sardican; and c. I of Constantinople).

2. A Presbyter must be ordained by a single Bishop, and so must a Deacon and other Clergymen.

This Canon prescribes that Presbyter and Deacon and all other Clergymen, Subdeacons, that is to say, Readers, and Cantors, etc. shall be ordained by a single Bishop.

3. If any Bishop or Presbyter, contrary to the Lord’s ordinance relating to sacrifice, offers anything else at the sacrificial altar, whether it be honey, or milk, or artficial liquor instead of wine, chickens, or any kind of animals, or vegetables, contrary to the ordinance, let him be deposed from office: except ears of new wheat or bunches of grapes, in due season. Let it not be permissible to bring anything else to the sacrificial altar but oil for the lamp, and incense at the time of the holy oblation.

(Ap. c. IV; cc. XXVIII, XXXII, LVII, and XCIX of the 6th C.; c. XLIV of Carthage; and c. VIII of Theophilus.).

When our Lord Jesus Christ delivered to the Apostles the mystery of the divine service, he enjoined upon them not to celebrate it with any other species but (leavened) bread and wine mixed with water, after being Himself the first to do this at the time of the Mystic Supper, as is written in the Liturgy of St. James the brother of God: "of wine having mixed (the cup, that is) with water." On this account the divine Apostles in the present Canon ordain that any bishop or presbyter infringing the arrangement which the Lord ordained for this bloodless sacrifice, should offer on the holy table any other species, whether honey, for instance, or milk, or instead of wine any artificial liquor, or, in other words, any intoxicating beverage, such as is "raki," a kind of liqueur manufactured from various fruits, or such as is beer, or what is called ale, made from barley, or anything similar thereto, or should offer birds or any other kind of animals, or pulse, let such person be deposed.

So that no one is permitted to offer anything else on the Holy Bema (or altar), except oil for the purpose of illumination, and incense at the time when divine liturgy is being celebrated.

The next Canon, IV, in agreement with the present one, ordains that other kinds of fruit should not be offered at the sacrificial altar, but at the bishop’s home, as firstfruits. On the other hand, c. XLIV of Carthage decrees that nothing else shall be offered at the holy mysteries, except only (leavened) bread, and wine united with water. Again, c. XXVIII of the 6th prescribes that the grapes that are brought to the Holy Bema must be blessed by the priest with a special prayer and blessing apart from that of the mysteries, in order that, in taking these from the hands of the priests, we may thank God that He provides for our sustinence through mildness of weather. Priests failing to do this, but, instead, combining these grapes with the body and blood of the Lord, are subjected to deposition. Canon XXXII of the same council reproves the Armenians as offering wine only, and not diluted with water. Canon XCIX of the same prohibits offering roast meat at the sacrificial altar. Canon LVII of the same expressly prohibits the offering of milk and honey at the sacrificial altar: notwithstanding that these things were formerly offered in accordance with said c. XLIV of Carthage for infants. Canon VIII of Theophilus ordains what is to be done with what is left over from the oblations and libations.

4. Let all other fruit be sent home to the Bishop and Presbyters as firstfruits, but not to the sacrificial altar. It is understood that the Bishop and Presbyters shall distribute a fair share to the Deacons and other Clergymen.

(Ap. c. Ill; c. XXVIII, XXXII, LVII, and LIX of the 6th; c. XLIV of Carthage; c. VIII of Theophilus).

This Canon ordains that any other fruit (except ears of wheat and grapes and oil and incense) shall not be offered at the Holy Bema, but must be sent to the home of the Bishop and of the Presbyters, as concerns first-fruits, in order that those sending them may offer due thanks to God by them, that He gave them such goods graciously. It is plain that the Bishop and Presbyters will not wish to enjoy them by themselves, but will take care to distribute a goodly share of them also to the Deacons and other Clergymen, in order that they may have a portion too. See the interpretation of Ap. c. III.

5. No Bishop, Presbyter, or Deacon shall put away his own wife under pretext of reverence. If, however, he put her away, let him be excommunicated," and if he persist in so doing, let him be deposed from office.

(Canons XIII, XLVIII of 6th; c. IV of Gangra; cc. IV, XXXIII of Carth.).

The old Law permitted married men to divorce their wives whenever they wanted and without any reasonable occasion. The Lord, however, sternly forbade this in the Gospel. Hence it is that the Apostles, too, following the Lord’s injunction, prohibit this in the present Canon, and say that a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon may not put away, i.e., forcibly divorce, his wife — without her consent, that is to say — under pretext or pretense of reverence; but if he should nevertheless divorce her, that he is to be excommunicated, until such time as he can be persuaded to take her back into his home. But if he persist in his obstinacy and will not receive her, he is to be deposed from office altogether, since it is apparent from this which he does that he dishonors marriage, which, according to the Apostle, is honorable (Heb. 13:4), and that he thinks bed and intercourse to be impure, which, however, is called undefiled by the same Apostle (ibid.). I need not state that adultery will operate as cause for divorce in this case, as the Lord said: "Whosoever shall put away his wife, save for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery" (Matt. 5:32). The Apostle, too, has said: "Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be freed" (I Cor. 7:27); and "Deprive ye not one of the other, unless it be by mutual agreement for a time, in order to have leisure for fasting and prayer" (ibid. 5).

Thus also the Sixth in its c. XIII ordains that marriages of those in holy orders are to remain unalterable and divorceless; and that if they were married even before admission to holy orders, they are not to be prevented from admission by reason of marriage; nor, when ordained, are they obliged to agree that as soon as they have become priests they will divorce their wives, as was an illegal custom which had come to prevail in Rome. Even if cc. IV and XXXIII of Carthage say for bishops and presbyters and deacons and subdeacons to keep sober and to abstain from their wives according to the same definitions, but the interpreters of the Canons — Zonaras, I mean, and Balsamon, and especially the Sixth in its c. XIII, in interpreting the foregoing Canons — say for them to abstain during the times only of their curacy, and not at all times, with the exception of bishops: and see there.

6. A Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon must not undertake worldly cares. If he does, let him be deposed from office.

(Ap. c. LXXXI; c. LXXXIII of the 4th; cc. III, VII of 7th; c. X of the and c. XVIII of Carthage.).

Those in holy orders are not allowed to get themselves involved in worldly matters, but are required to devote their time to the divine service of their profession, and to keep their mind free from all confusion and disturbance of life. Hence it is that the present Canon decrees that a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon must not undertake or take upon himself cares of life. If, though, he do so and refuses to forgo them, but on the contrary persists in them, let him be deposed. The Nomicon of Photius, in Title VIII, says that bishops must not undertake cares and become trustees, even of their own relatives, according to cc. XIII, XIV, XV of Title I of Bk. III of the Basiliar, except only in case that trusteeship is for the purpose of distributing alms or charitable gifts in behalf of their deceased relative, according to Novel 68 of Leo the Wise. Read also the above concordant Canons, prohibiting clergymen from worldly cares.

7. If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon celebrate the holy day of Easter before the vernal equinox with the Jews, let him be deposed.

(Ap. cc. LXI, LXX, LXXI; c. XI of the 6th; c. I of Antioch; cc. XXXVII, XXXVIII of Laodicea; and cc. LX, LXXXI, CXVII of Carthage.).

The sun passes through two equinoxes during the year, one in the springtime and the other in the season of autumn. They are called equinoxes because the day is then equal to the night, and, conversely, the night is equal to the day. The autumnal equinox occurs during September when the sun is entering the first division of the zodiac, called Libra (i.e., the Balance), not of the starry and sensible one, but of the starless and supersensible one. The vernal, or spring, equinox, on the other hand, occurs in the month of March, when the sun is entering the first sign of the zodiac, called Aries (i.e., the Ram), not of the sensible and starry one, wliich is really variable, but of the supersensible and starless one, which is really invariable, according to astronomers. Well, this vernal equinox, because of an irregularity of the sun’s course in its motion from west to east, does not occur always on one and the same day, but in the time of the holy Apostles it was on the 22nd day of the month of Drystrus, or March, according to the Injunction of the same Apostles (Book V, chap. 17), or, according to others, on the 23rd; whereas, at the time of the First Ecumenical Council it was on the 21st day of March, according to Sebastus and others. And now in our times it occurs on the llth, or even the 10th nearly, of March (for, according to the older astronomers, Ptolemy and others, the equinox descends a full day of 24 hours in the course of a little over three hundred years; but according to modern astronomers it descends the space of a day and night in 134 years, as appears on page 540 of the Tome of love).

These facts having already become known, the present Apostolical Canon ordains that any bishop or presbyter or deacon that celebrates holy Easter before the equinox of spring, with the legal Passover of the Jews, is to be deposed from office (for even among the Jews the wisest and most learned ones observed the celebration of Passover at the time of the equinox, according to Blastaris, just as Moses had enjoined it, but the less refined ones celebrated it before the equinox in accordance with the present Canon, and consequently they celebrated Passover twice in the same year, as is made plainly evident in the letter Emperor Constantine concerning Easter, which is to be found in Book I of the history written by Theodoret, chap. 10, or 9 according to others). But when is this performed? After the equinox, that is to say, and after the legal Passover. After the equinox, of course, because the equinox, because of its being a measure dividing the whole year into two halves, in case we celebrate Easter before the equinox, will make us observe Easter twice in the same year; and, in that event, we should consequently be marking the death of the Son of God twice. But if we celebrate it after the equinox, we observe but one Easter, and consequently denounce but one death of Christ. That is why the Apostles themselves, in their Injunctions (Bk. V, ch. 17), say the following: "Brethren, you must fix the days of Easter accurately, with all diligence, after the turn of the equinox, and not commemorate one suffering twice a year, but once a year Him who died but once."

Again, after the Passover of the Jews, for one thing, in order to have the type, or, more plainly speaking, the slaughter of the lamb, precede, and have what is typified, or, more plainly speaking, the death and resurrection of the Lord, afterwards follow. And, for another thing, in order not to celebrate it on any other day of the week, as the Jews celebrate Passover on any day that happens to be the fourteenth of the moon, but always on a Sunday, and the Apostles also say in the same place. On this account, moreover, whenever it so happens that the legal Passover falls on a Sunday, we do not celebrate Easter on that day, but on Sunday next thereafter, to avoid celebrating along with the Jews. For, even according to the very truth of the matter, it was then that the Jews first celebrated their Passover, and the resurrection of the Lord occurred afterwards, the Easter which we now celebrate every year serving as a figure to remind us of it.

Not only does Ap. c. LXX ordain that we must not celebrate with the Jews, but so does also cc. XXXVII and XXXVIII of Laodicea. But neither must we even pray together with them, according to Ap. c. LXV, nor take oil to their synagogues, Recording to Ap. c. LXXI. Canon I of Antioch, in fact, deposes those in holy orders who fail to keep the definition of the First Council concerning! Easter, but celebrate it with the Jews. Canons LX, LXXXI, and CXVII of Carthage ordain with reference to the date of Easter when it is to be found and where it is to be written, and to be announced to others. Canon XI of the Sixtft even goes so far as to prohibit a Christian from calling the Jews for medical treatment or bathing with them.

7. If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon, or anyone else in the sacerdotal list, fail to partake of communion when the oblation has been offered, he must tell the reason, and if it is good excuse, he shall receive a pardon. But if he refuses to tell it, he shall be excommunicated, on the ground that he has become a cause of harm to the laity and has instilled a suspicion as against the offerer of it that the latter has failed to present it in a sound manner.

It is the intention of the present Canon that all, and especially those in holy orders, should be prepared beforehand and worthy to partake of the divine mysteries when the oblation is offered, or what amounts to the sacred service of the body of Christ. In case any one of them fail to partake when present at the divine liturgy, or communion, he is required to tell the reason or cause why he did not partake: then if it is a just and righteous and reasonable one, he is to receive a pardon, or be excused; but if he refuses to tell it, he is to be excommunicated, since he also becomes a cause of harm to the laity by leading the multitude to suspect that that priest who officiated at liturgy was not worthy and that it was on this account that the person in question refused to communicate from him.

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

(Canon LXVI of the 6th; c. II of Antioch; cc. Ill, XIII of Tim.).

Both exegetes of the sacred Canons — Zonaras, I mean, and Balsamon — in interpreting the present Apostolical Canon agree in saying that all Christians who enter the church when the divine liturgy is being celebrated, and who listen to the divine Scriptures, but do not remain to the end nor partake, must be excommunicated, as causing a disorder to the church. Thus Zonaras says verbatim: "The present Canon demands that all those who are in the church when the holy sacrifice is being performed shall patiently remain to the end for prayer and holy communion." For even the laity then were required to partake continually. Balsamon says: "The ordainment of the present Canon is very acrid; for it excommunicates those attending church but not staying to the end nor partaking."

Agreeably with the present Canon c. II of Antioch ordains that all those who enter the church during the time of divine liturgy and listen to the Scriptures, but turn away and avoid (which is the same as to say, on account of pretended reverence and humility they shun, according to interpretation of the best interpreter, Zonaras) divine communion in a disorderly manner are to be excommunicated. The continuity of communion is confirmed also by c. LXVI of the 6th, which commands Christians throughout Novational Week (i.e., Easter Week) to take time off for psalms and hymns, and to indulge in the divine mysteries to their hearts’ content. But indeed even from the third canon of St. Timothy the continuity of communion can be inferred. For if he permits one possessed by demons to partake, not however every day, but only on Sunday (though in other copies it is written, on occasions only), it is likely that those riot possessed by demons are permitted to communicate even more frequently. Some contend that for this reason it was that the same Timothy, in c. Ill, ordains that on Saturday and Sunday that a man and his wife should not have mutual intercourse, in order, that is, that they might partake, since in that period it was only on those days, as we have said, that the divine liturgy was celebrated. This opinion of theirs is confirmed by divine Justin, who says in his second apology that "on the day of the sun" — meaning, Sunday — all Christians used to assemble in the churches (which on this account were also called "Kyriaka," i.e., places of the Lord) and partook of the divine mysteries. That, on the other hand, all Christians ought to frequent divine communion is confirmed from the West by divine Ambrose, who says thus: "We see many brethren coming to church negligently, and indeed on Sundays not even being present at the mysteries." And again, in blaming those who fail to partake continually, the same saint says of the mystic bread: "God gave us this bread as a daily affair, and we make it a yearly affair." From Asia, on the other hand, divine Chrysostom demands this of Christians, and, indeed, par excellence. And see in his preamble to his commentary of the Epistle to the Romans, discourse VIII, and to the Hebrews, discourse XVIII, on the Acts, and Sermon V on the First Epistle to Timothy, and Sermon XVII on the Epistle to the Hebrews, and his discourse on those at first fasting on Easter, Sermon III to the Ephesians, discourse addressed to those who leave the divine assemblies (synaxeis), Sermon XXVIII on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, a discourse addressed to blissful Philogonius, and a discourse about fasting. Therein you can see how that goodly tongue strives and how many exhortations it rhetorically urges in order to induce Christians to partake at the same time, and worthily, and continually. But see also Basil the Great, in his epistle to Caesaria Patricia and in his first discourse about baptism. But then how can it be thought that whoever pays any attention to the prayers of all the divine liturgy can fail to see plainly enough that all of these are aimed at having it arranged that Christians assembled at the divine liturgy should partake — as many, that is to say, as are worthy?

10. If anyone pray in company with one who has been excommunicated, he shall be excommunicated himself.

The noun akoinonetos has three significations: for, either it denotes one standing in church and praying in company with the rest of the Christians, but not communing with the divine mysteries; or it denotes one who neither communes nor stands and prays with the faithful in the church, but who has been excommunicated from them and is excluded from church and prayer; or finally it may denote any clergyman who becomes excommunicated from the clergy, as, say, a bishop from his fellow bishops, or a presbyter from his fellow presbyters, or a deacon from his fellow deacons, and so on. Accordingly, every akoinonetos is the same as saying excommunicated from the faithful who are in the church; and he is at the same time also excommunicated from the Mysteries. But not everyone that is excommunicated from the Mysteries is also excommunicated from the congregation of the faithful, as are deposed clergymen; and from the penitents those who stand together and who neither commune nor stay out of the church like catechumens, as we have said. In the present Canon the word akoinonetos is taken in the second sense of the word. That is why it says that whoever prays in company with one who has been excommunicated because of sin from the congregation and prayer of the faithful, even though he should not pray along with them in church, but in a house, whether he be in holy orders or a layman, he is to be excommunicated in the same way as he was from church and prayer with Christians: because that common engagement in prayer which he performs in conjunction with a person that has been excommunicated, wittingly and knowingly him to be such, is aimed at dishonoring and condemning the excommunicator, and traduces him as having excommunicated him wrongly and unjustly.

11. If anyone who is a clergyman pray in company with a deposed clergyman, he shall be deposed too.

The present Canon can be interpreted in two different ways. If the phrase "pray in company with" be taken for "officiate in conjunction with," the meaning of the whole Canon will be as follows. Let any clergyman be deposed who knowingly officiates in conjunction with a deposed clergyman, just as the latter was (which is more correct too). But if the phrase "pray in common with" denotes what it properly signifies, i.e., to pray along with someone else, the meaning of the Canon is as follows. Let any clergyman who knowingly prays along with another clergyman who not only has been deposed but has even dared to engage in the performance of functions peculiar to the clergy, or has even been deposed on account of sins from his clerical office, but after the deposition has fallen into the same sins, let him be deposed too, just as was the other man.

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

(Ap. c. XXXII, XXXIII; cc. XI, XIII of the 4th; c. XVII of the 6th; cc. VII, VIII, XI of Antioch; cc. VII, VIII, IX of the Sardican.).

One excommunicated is not the same as one who has not been admitted. For the one who has been excommunicated is excluded from the church and the prayer of the faithful. The one who, on the other hand, has not been admitted cannot, for many reasons, be admitted by the prelate. So the present Canon, though having in mind both of the two, mentions here only the one who has not been admitted. Wherefore it may be said that the phrase "or who" is not explanatory of the one excommunicated, but is a disjunctive particle combined with "who" and used to distinguish the one excommunicated from the one who has not been admitted. Hence it may be said that it prescribes the following rule. In case a clergyman or layman fail to be admitted by his prelate (or bishop) — the layman perhaps because he has been accused by him of some fault; the clergyman because he is seeking to be ordained, and, after examining his qualifications, has found some flaws on account of which he has not accepted him for ordination — and afterwards goes to another province, and he should be admitted by the bishop there, without his having letters from his own bishop, commendatory of his faith, and of his life, and of his ordination, and especially of his reputation which has been impeached, let both the prelate who admitted him thus and he who has been in this manner by him be excommunicated — the former because he accepted him without letters; the latter either because he failed to get a letter commendatory of his reputation, or because by lying he succeeded in deceiving the bishop into admitting him.

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

(Ap. c. XII; and c. CXVI of Carthage.)

The present Canon is related to c. XII both as respects meaning and as respects syntax and phraseology. For c. XII, as we have explained, spoke of an unadmitted clergyman and layman, while this Canon speaks of an excommunicated clergyman and layman, by saying: If any clergyman or layman has been excommunicated by his bishop, and is going to another region, and he conceals and fails to acknowledge the fact that he has been excommunicated, and as a result of such concealment should be admitted by the bishop of that region, who did not know about the excommunication, in such cases the excommunication is to be augmented further because of the fact that he told a lie and deceived the bishop of that region.

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

(Cf. c. XV of the 1st; c. V of the 4th; cc. XVI, XXI of Antioch; cc. I, II of the Sardican; and c. LVII of Carthage.)

Interloping and intrusion from one province to another is a different matter from transfer and emigration. Thus, interloping is when a bishop actuated by greed and his own preferences leaves his own province (or, not having a province of his own, is without a cure) and grabs another illogically. Such interloping is condemned and is penalized with canonical penances, according to cc. I and II of the Sardican. Transfer, on the other hand is when as a result of great need and for the sake of bolstering up piety at the request of many bishops, a prelate goes from one province to another for greater spiritual benefit to the inhabitants of the latter (and even then perhaps only for a season, and not for the rest of his life). This change is one permitted in certain cases of accomodation. Hence it may be said that the present Canon too ordains that it is not allowable for a bishop to leave his own province greedily and of his own accord, without any reasonable cause, and to interlope into another, even though he be urged to do so by others. It is only when there is a good excuse and a just reason forcing him to take such a step that he may go to another province, be it larger or smaller or vacant; in other words, when he cause the Christians of that province greater profit to the soul, and spiritual benefit, with the pious words of his teaching, than some other bishop. Yet he must not even do this of his own accord, that is to say, on his own initiative, but may do it only in conformity with the judgment and vote of many bishops and at their most urgent request and demand.

15. If any Presbyter, or Deacon, or anyone at all in the Sacerdotal List, abandoning his own province, departs to another, and after deserting it entirely, sojourns in another, contrary to the opinion of his own Bishop, we bid him to officiate no longer; especially if his Bishop summons him to return, and he has not obeyed and persists in his disorderliness, he may, however, commune there as a layman.

(Cf. cc. XV, XVI of the 1st; cc. V, X, XX, XXIII of the 4th; cc. XVII, XVIII of the 6th; cc. X, XV of the 7th; c. Ill of Antioch; cc. XV, XVI, XVII of the Sardican; and cc. LXIII, XCVIII of Carthage.).

Canon VI of the Fourth Council commands that a presbyter, or a deacon, or any other clergyman is not to be ordained simply and indefinitely in every church, but is to be appointed to the church of some town, or village, or monastery. So, in the case of any person being so ordained, the present Apostolical Canon ordains that he is not to leave the appointed church and go to another in a strange province, without the consent and a dimissory letter of his own bishop. But if he should so do, it commands that he abstain from officiating there in the church in any priestly or clerical function; and especially if he should have happened to have been summoned or invited by his bishop to return and remains in his disorderliness and obstinacy, and has failed to obey by returning, in such a case let him have the right, however, to pray along with the Christians of that church and let him partake of communion with them. Read also the Canons referred to in the margin.

16. If, on the other hand, the Bishop with whom they are associating, admits them as clergymen in defiance of the deprivation prescribed against them, he shall be excommunicated as a teacher of disorder.

(Cf. cc. VII, XVIII of the 6th; c. III of Antioch; and cc. LXIII, LXIV of Carthage.).

Only the bishop of Carthage has a right to take clergymen from wherever he chooses, in accordance with an accepted and ancient custom (though in any case from bishops subject to him), and to allocate them to the churches of his own province, in accordance with c. LXIV of the same council. But as for other bishops, they are never given such a right. On this account the present Apostolical Canon, being dependent on the above Canon, both as respecting the phraseology and as respecting the meaning, says: "But if the bishop in whose province these foreign clergymen are dwelling, notwithstanding that he is aware that they have been suspended from office in accordance with the Canons by their own bishop, should admit them as clergymen performing their duties as such — any duties, that is to say, of the clergy — let such bishop be excommunicated, for the reason that he is becoming a teacher of disorderliness and of scandals.

17. Whoever has entered into two marriages after baptism, or has possessed himself of a concubine, cannot be a Bishop, or a Presbyter, or a Deacon, or anything else in the Sacerdotal List.

(Cf. c. Ill of the 6th; and c. XII of Basil’s.).

Interpretation.

No matter how many sins a man has committed before baptism they cannot prevent him from taking holy orders and joining the clergy, since, and we so believe, Holy Baptism washes them all away. Not so, however, in the matter of sins committed after baptism. On this account the present Canon ordains that whoever after Holy Baptism marries twice (one marries twice not only by taking a second wife, but also by becoming formally betrothed to another woman by virtue of a religious rite, or even if he weds a woman plighted to another man, or keeps a woman as a concubine, he cannot become a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or be in anyway placed among the number or in any rank of the Sacerdotal List.

18. No one who has taken a widow, or a divorced woman, or a harlot, or a house maid, or any actress as his wife, may be a Bishop, or a Presbyter, or a Deacon, or hold any other position at all in the Sacerdotal List.

(Cf. cc. II, XXVI of the 6th; and c. XXVII of Basil).

If the Jews who were priests were forbidden to take as wives any prostitute or woman chased out of house by her husband, or one having a disreputable name of any kind — for it says, "They shall not take a wife that is a whore or profane; neither shall they take a woman cast out by her husband: for he is holy unto his Lord God… And he shall take a wife in her virginity" (Lev. 21:7, 13), how much more is not this forbidden to the priests of the Gospel? For, it says, "Behold, in this place is one who is greater than the temple" (Matt. 12:6). On this account the present Canon ordains that anyone who takes as his wife a widow or a woman who has been chased out of house by her husband, or a whore, or a slave girl, or one of those women who play on the stage or have a role in comedies or play the part of various persons, cannot in any way at all be counted among those on the Sacerdotal List: because all these women have been maligned and given a bad name. Those men who are in holy orders must be irreproachable from all angles, and blameless, as blissful St. Paul says (I Tim. 3:2). Canon III of the Sixth says that presbyters, deacons, and subdeacons who have taken a widow, or who after ordination have fallen into an illegal marriage, if they divorce their wives, may be allowed to remain suspended from priestly orders for a short while and be subjected to penances. Afterwards they may resume their proper rank in holy orders, but may not advance to any higher rank, notwithstanding that the Sixth accomodatively provided a compromise for such clergymen at that time: thenceforth, however, it prescribed that the present Apostolical was again to be in full force and effect.

19. Whoever marries two sisters, or a niece, may not be a clergyman.

(Cf. cc. Ill, XXVI of the 6th; c. II of Neocaesarea; cc. XXIII, XLVII of Basil : and c. V of Theophilus).

Among marriages some are called illicit, which are those contracted with relatives or heretics, and others are called illegal, such as those of one who takes as his wife a woman of whom his father had acted as guardian since she was an infant, and other damnable marriages, such as those in which one takes as his wife a woman who had been consecrated to God, or a nun. In a common appellation all these marriages may be called unlawful (as the Sixth in its c. Ill terms unlawful all marriages commonly that are embraced in Ap. cc. XVII and XVIII); but the present Canon deals only with illicit marriages, by prescribing: Whosoever takes to wife two sisters, or takes an older niece of his as his wife, cannot become a clergyman. Because any illicit marriage, whether by reason of blood or of marriage ties, not only prevents one from becoming a clergyman, but also subjects him to penances. For St. Basil the Great in mentioning those taking two sisters in his cc. LXXVIII and LXXXVII, rules that they shall abstain from the mysteries for seven years, according to his LXVIII, while c. II of Neocaesarea ordains that any woman shall be expelled from Metalepsis, or participation in the Lord’s Supper, for life who has married two brothers. Canon XXVII of Basil the Great prescribes that any presbyter who shall unwittingly fall into an unlawful marriage, i.e., one involving a relative, shall be allowed to share only the honor of his seat, but shall abstain from all other activities connected with the priesthood, and shall not bless anyone either secretly or openly, nor shall he in any case administer communion to anyone. This same canon of St. Basil was repeated verbatim by the Sixth Ecumenical Council in its c. XXVI, adding thereto that the unlawful marriage is to be dissolved first, and thus shall he have a right to enjoy the honor of his seat. Canon V of Theophilus says that anyone who takes his niece before his baptism and is ordained a deacon after his baptism, is not to be deposed if she has died or he has left her before cohabiting with her carnally. The civil law, contained in Bk. 6, Title XXXVII, commands that all unlawful marriages be dissolved and punished. As for those who are cohabiting with two sisters, or with their niece (as this Apostolical Canon enjoins), it commands that their nose be cut off, and they themselves shall be soundly cudgeled, as well as the women who ruined themselves along with them. If, on the other hand, such persons refuse to be separated, they must be parted with the might of the law against their will.

20. Any Clergyman that gives surety shall be deposed from office.

(Cf. c. XXX of the 4th.).

The phrase "give surety" has two significations. For, either one gives himself as surety for another, or he gives another surety for himself. The present Canon, being taken as referring to the first signification, that of giving surety for another, says: If any clergyman should give himself as surety for another man, let him be deposed from office. For, in such a case the surety for the most part is engaged in human affairs, i.e., in such matters as those of custom houses, banks, commercial businesses, and, in brief, transactions of trade, from all which survivant and worldly affairs clergymen must be free; and moreover such cases of surety result in many other temptations too, into which they ought not to fling themselves voluntarily. For, says the proverb-writer, "if thou stand surety for a friend of thine, thou shall deliver thy hand to an enemy. Therefore give thou not thyself as surety out of shame. For if thou hast not wherewithal to pay, they will take the mattress from under thy ribs" (Prov. 26:6, 10, and 22). For survivant things, profits, and affairs, clergymen, as we have said, ought not to give themselves as surety. For, though we are commanded to risk our life for the love of a brother of ours, yet this is not meant with reference to human duties, according to Basil the Great (see abstract of his 162). For the advantage of our brethren, with respect to the purpose of pleasing God, not only must clergymen give themselves as sureties, but even their lives. For instance: if a clergyman meets a man who is being unjustly dragged along to be thrown into prison, because the man has no one to offer as surety to the judge, and the clergyman should have mercy on his calamitous plight and should give himself as surety for his brother, such a clergyman, I say, not only is not deposed but is even praised by God and men, as having fulfilled an Evangelical and divine commandment: for it says: "Rescue a man being treated unjustly, and those who are being dragged to death; and be not too stingy to buy off those who are condemned to death" (Prov. 24:11). Thus much for the first signification, that of not giving oneself as surety for another, as explained.

The Fourth Ecumenical Council, taking the words "give surety" in the second sense, required the bishops of Egypt to give others as sureties on their part, in its c. XXX, that they would not depart from Constantinople until the archbishop of Alexandria had been ordained: and in this manner the Canons are found to be consonant with each other, the Apostolical Canon, that is, and that of the Fourth Council, and they are seen not to conflict with each other, since the Apostolical Canon took the phrase "give surety" in a different sense than that in which it was taken by the Canon of the Fourth Council.

21. A Eunuch, whether he became such by influence of men, or was deprived of his virile parts under persecution, or was born thus, may, if he is worthy, become a Bishop.

(Ap. cc. XXIII, XXIV; c. I of the 1st; and c. VIII of the lst-and-2nd.).

Eunuchs as a genus are divided into three species, namely: spadones, geldings, and castrates. Spadones are those who were born without testicles and virile members from the womb of their mother, concerning whom the Lord said: "There are some eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb" (Matt. 19:12); an example was Dorotheus, a presbyter in the church of Antioch, as Eusebius bears witness in his Ecclesiastical History, Bk. 7, ch. 32). Geldings are those whose virile members were so compressed and squeezed by their parents when they were infants that they rendered useless for the purpose of begetting children by being so squeezed. Castrates are those who have deprived themselves of their genitals either with a knife or by some other means or contrivance of a mechanical kind. These facts being known beforehand, the present Canon says: 1. In case anyone has become a eunuch as a result of wickedness and injury inflicted by other men, or in times of persecution they his genitals have been cut off, or he was born without any from his mother’s womb, but he is worthy of holy orders, let him be made a bishop, 2. since he himself was not the cause of such mutilation, but, on the contrary, he suffered the injury either as a result of nature or at the hands of wicked men, and ought on this account to be treated mercifully, and not be hated and castigated. Concerning eunuchism Ap. cc. XXII, XXIII, and XXIV also have something to say. In addition, c. I of the First Ecumenical Council says that any clergyman who is eunuchized by physicians on account of an illness or by barbarians shall be permitted to remain in the clergy; or, if he be a layman, he may be made a clergyman. But as for anyone in good health who has eunuchized himself, if he be a clergyman, let him cease performing the functions of priesthood; or, if he be a layman, let him not be made a clergyman. Again, c. VIII of the First-and-Second, citing this same canon of the First, says: Any clergyman who eunuchizes another, or himself with his own hand or another’s, let him be deposed from office; as for any layman who does this, let him be excommunicated. But if priests or laymen eunuchize those who are afflicted with a disease of a venereal nature, they are not to be blamed.

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

(Ap. cc. XXI, XXIII, XXIV; c. I of 1st; c. VIII of lst-&-2nd.).

The preceding Canon prescribes mandatorily regarding those who have been eunuchized, whereas the present Canon prescribes optionally about men who have been eunuchized, by saying: Whoever willfully eunuchizes himself when in sound condition, whether he do so with his own hands or has someone else eunuchize him, let him not be made a clergyman, since he himself is a murderer of himself by himself, and is an enemy of God’s creation. For God created him a man complete with genitals, but, by removing these, he converts himself into an odd and outlandish nature; since he is neither a man, because he cannot perform the chief functions of a man and beget a human being like himself, nor, again, is he a woman, because he is incapable of undergoing the duties of women, or, more explicitly speaking, he cannot be made pregnant and give birth to children like women, but after a certain fashion he is a third kind of monster, and is, so to speak, a being intermediate between the male and the female species of mankind: see also the Interpretation of Ap. c. XXI.

23. If anyone who is a clergyman should mutilate himself, let him be deposed from office. For he is a self-murderer.

(Ap. cc. XXI, XXII, XXIV; c. I of the 1st; c. VIII of the lst-&-2nd.).

This Canon too, like the one above, deals with cases of eunuchism. But the former prescribes that he shall not be made a clergyman who, while a layman, should eunuchize himself; whereas this Canon says that if anyone who was previously a clergyman should eunuchize himself when in sound health, or have someone else eunuchize him, he is to be deposed from office; since he is a murderer of himself. But besides the divine Canons even the political laws too castigate those who eunuchize or castrate either themselves or others with various punishments, ranging all the way from confiscation of their property, exile, or retaliation, i.e., by compelling them to be eunuchized themselves by some other person. If, again, it should happen that a slave, whether well or ill, should eunuchize himself or be eunuchized by another, the laws command that he be set free. (Photius, ch. 14 of Title I). Read also the Interpretation of Ap. c. XXI.

14. Any layman who has mutilated himself shall be excommunicated for three years. For he is a plotter against his own life.

(Ap. cc. XXI, XXII, XXIII; c. I of the 1st; and c. VIII of the lst-2nd.).

If, on the other hand, it be a layman that should mutilate and castrate himself when in good health, or have someone else eunuchize him, the present Canon commands that he be excommunicated from the Mysteries and from the congregation of Christians in the church for a period of three years; since with the eunuchization he becomes a danger to his own life.

25. Any Bishop, or presbyter, or Deacon that is taken in the act of committing fornication, or perjury, or theft, shall be deposed from office, but shall not be excommunicated. For Scripture says: "Thou shall not exact revenge twice for the same offense." The same rule applies also to the rest of clergymen.

(c. IX of the 1st; cc. IV, XXI of the 6th; c. I of Neocaesarea; c. XXXV of Carthage; cc. Ill, XVII, XXXII, XLIV, LI, and LXX of Basil.).

All men who are in holy orders or who are clergymen must be pure and unimpeachable. For this reason the present Canon decrees thus: Any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon that gets caught, i.e., or is proved to have engaged, in the act of fornication, or violence of an oath, or capital theft, by which phrase is meant, according to c. XXVIII of the Faster, one entailing capital punishment. Capital punishment, however, is not decapitation, or death otherwise speaking, according to the interpretation given by Balsamon in commenting on ch. 25 of Title IX of the Nomocanon of Photius, but exile, abacination (or excecation), cutting off one hand, and other similar punishments, for any offense. As for such offender, the Canon says to let him be deposed from holy orders, but not be excommunicated also from the church and prayer of Christians. For divine Scripture says: Thou shalt not punish twice one and the same sinful act. And, like those in holy orders, all other clergymen too that may be caught in the aforementioned sinful acts shall also be deposed from their clerical offices and rights, but shall not be excommunicated. Two things deserving attention are embraced in the present Canon: one is that these men in holy orders and those who are clergymen, notwithstanding that they are not excommunicated from communion, or, more expressly speaking, from the congregation and prayer of the Christians in the church, like catechumens, according to cc. Ill, XXXII, and LI of St. Basil the Great, yet they cannot partake also of the Intemerate Mysteries (or Holy Sacraments) according to the same Canon, on the ground that they are unworthy and are under a canon until such time as the prelate or their spiritual father (i.e., confessor) sees fit to permit them to do so. And another thing is that those who have been caught, not in all the sinful acts named, but only in these particular ones that are mentioned in the present Canon, including both those in holy orders and those in the clergy (unless they be caught in other acts like these, as, for instance, in adultery or in high treason), are merely deposed from office and are not excommunicated. For there are other sins in which all those who are caught in the act of committing them, whether in holy orders or simple clergymen, are deposed from office and also excommunicated.

Such are those who have been ordained in exchange for money or with the exercise of the authority of political rulers, according to cc. XXIX and XXX of the Apostles. Note further that those in holy orders as well as clergymen who were deposed from office because of the above sinful acts, but were not excommunicated, if they relapsed into the same, or into other sins, after their deposition from office, then and in that event they were excommunicated from the Church entirely, like catechumens. That is why c. I of Neocaesarea, too, decrees that if a presbyter commits fornication or adultery, he is excommunicated from the Church, like penitent laymen. This canon of Neocaesarea, I may say, is entirely consistent and thoroughly compatible with the present Apostolical Canon if it be understood and considered that it refers to a presbyter that has committed fornication or adultery twice or thrice over.

But c. VIII too of the same Neocaesarean Council says that a priest who is cohabiting with his wife after she has committed adultery must be deposed from office. Again, c. XXI of the 6th says: Clergymen who have been entirely deposed from office on account of canonical crimes, if they voluntarily repent, let them cut their hair after the style of clergymen; but if they are unwilling to give up the sin voluntarily, let them grow hair, like laymen. Canon XVII of Basil says that as for those presbyters who have taken an oath not to perform the functions connected with holy orders (as a result of some necessity or danger) must not officiate openly (lest they scandalize those who happen to know that they took such an oath), though they may do so secretly; yet they must repent of the oath they have taken. Canon LXX of the same Father decrees that in case a deacon, or a presbyter, should sin with a woman only to the extent of kissing her, he shall leave the holy orders for a time, according to Zonaras, but he shall have the right to partake of the mysteries together with his fellow presbyters and fellow deacons. But if it should come to light that he sinned further than the kiss, he shall be deposed from office. Canon IV of the 6th deposes any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or other clergyman that has sexual intercourse with a woman consecrated to God, i.e., a nun. John the Faster says that if anyone fell into masturbation (which some saints call self-fornication) before being admitted to holy orders, he is to be penanced and afterwards to be admitted to holy orders. But if he fell after admission to holy orders, he is to remain suspended for one year, and is to be canonized (i.e., disciplined) with other penances, and thereafter be allowed to officiate. If, however, even after becoming fully conscious of the sinfulness of the act, he again falls into this mishap two or three times he is to be deposed, and put in the class of an anagnost (or church reader).

24. As to bachelors who have entered the clergy, we allow only anagnosts and psalts to marry, if they wish to do so.

(c. XIV of the 4th; c. VI of the 6th; cc. XIX, XXXIII of Carth.; c. LXIX of Basil.).

Before being ordained, presbyters, deacons, and subdeacons have a right to take a wife and to be ordained after marriage. But if after ordination they should wish to marry, they are deposed from their order in accordance with c. VI of the 6th. Anagnosts, on the other hand, and psalts (i.e., chanter or psalmists) and the lower clerics have a right to marry without prejudice even after becoming clerics and to be advanced to higher orders. Hence it is that the present Canon commands that such clerics be allowed to marry even after taking orders, though only with an Orthodox woman, and not with a heterodox woman, in accordance with c. XIV of the 4th Ecumenical Council. Nevertheless, c. IX of. Carthage ordains that when anagnosts reach the age of puberty, or the fourteenth year of their life, they are to be compelled either to marry or to take a vow of continence, or, more plainly speaking, to remain virgins. But after marrying, they are not to be compelled to be more continent than is required, according to c. XXXIII of the same. Canon LXIX of Basil the Great says that if an anagnost should fall with his fiancee before being wedded, he is to be suspended for a year, after which he is to be accepted, but must not be promoted to any higher rank. If, on the other hand, he marry clandestinely without a betrothal, he is to be discharged from the service. Canon VI of the 6th promulgates the present Canon verbatim.

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

(c. IX of the lst-&-2nd; c. V of Antioch; cc. LVII, LXII, LXXVI, C, CVI, CVII; and I Pet. 2:23.).

In teaching His disciples His divine commandments the Lord used to say: "And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch." (Mark 13:37). One of His commandments is to turn our left cheek to anyone that strikes our right cheek (Matt. 5:39). If, therefore, this commandment ought to be kept by all Christians, it ought much more to be obeyed by those in holy orders, and especially by bishops, regarding whom divine Paul wrote to Timothy that a bishop ought not to be a striker (I Tim. 3:3). That is why the present Canon says too: If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon strikes those Christians who offend him, or unbelievers that do wrong to others, with a view to making others afraid of him with such blows, we command that he be deposed from office. For in no part of the Gospel has the Lord taught to do such a thing as that: in fact, He has taught us quite the contrary with His example; since when beaten by the soldiers and Jews, at the time of His passion, He did not lift a hand to beat them in return. When accused and insulted, He did not insult others, nor did He accuse them. Even when suffering on the cross, He did not threaten to chastise them, but begged His Father to pardon them. "Those in holy orders ought to imitate the Lord by rebuking sinners and wrongdoers, in order that others may be afraid" (I Tim. 5:20), as St. Paul says, and "by sobering them, at times with teaching and admonition, and at times with ecclesiastical penances, but not taking revenge with wrath and anger, for villainy say, or for any offense such persons may have given them, or by beating them and thrashing them." In mentioning this same Canon, c. IX of the lst-&-2nd also says that not only are those in holy orders to be deposed who strike others with their own hands, but also those who get others to deliver the blows.

28. If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon, who has been justly deposed from office for proven crimes, should dare to touch the liturgy which had once been put in his hands, let him be cut off from the Church altogether.

(cc. IV, XII, XV of Antioch; c.XIV of Sard.; Basil’s epistle to Gregory, which is his c. LXXXVIII.).

The present Canon ordains that if any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon happens to have been justly and lawfully deposed from office on account of manifest and proven crimes — the bishop by the synod, the presbyter and the deacon either by their bishop or by their synod — and after such lawful deposition he should have the hardihood to use again the liturgical office to which he had been privileged (by "liturgical office" is meant here both the prelacy of the bishop and the priesthood of the presbyter and deacon), any such person, I say, shall be excommunicated from the Church entirely. For one thing, because of his extreme hardihood and rashness; for another thing, because after deposition there remains no other canonical chastisement for those in holy orders but to excommunicate them entirely even from the Church. And that is just and right. For if it should happen, according to c. XIV of the Sardican, that anyone who has not been deposed justly should have the hardihood to perform the functions of the clergy after his deposition and before another synodical judgment or decision, he ought to be sobered by bitter and severe words. In fact, according to c. V of the 1st, if even in case one is unchurched, not as a matter of justice, but as a matter of some pusillanimity and contentiousness of his bishop, he cannot handle anything priestly until a synodical examination and investigation is carried out, how much more is not one incapacitated for the performance of any function belonging to holy orders who has been justly deposed on account of manifest sins? Again, if Basil the Great threatened to condemn Gregory, who had been merely suspended by him, to anathema if he should have the hardihood to exercise any function before his correction, how can it be said that one ought not to be entirely cut off from the Church who has been justly deposed from office for manifest sins, but after the deposition has had the hardihood to exercise any priestly function?

Canon XXXVII of Carthage says that that bishop, or any other clergyman whatsoever, condemns himself who, after becoming excluded from communion, should dare to communicate with others. Whoever takes the part of one who has been condemned for a crime, shall be fined and forfeit his honor, according to c. LXXI of the same. One who has been condemned justly by the bishops and refuses to keep the peace in other regions, ought to be run down there too, according to c. LXXIV of the same. Canon VII of Nicetas of Heracleia demands that anyone who officiates after being canonically deposed be chased away from the Church until he repent, like laymen, and to receive penance in the class of penitents. The civil law, in Book III of the Basilica, Title I, ch. 1, decrees thus. If a bishop deposed from office by the synod should cause a disturbance with a view to getting back his bishopric, he must be chased a hundred miles away from it and not be allowed to go even to the emperor. Those who lend him protection are made liable to chastisement. Divine Chrysostom, however, says (Sermon III on holy orders) that anyone who is deposed on account of envy or any other unjust cause, actually gains himself a greater reward than that of holy orders; hence he ought to rejoice withal and not be sorry: to those, on the other hand, who have unjustly deposed him, he causes punishment in hell.

29. If any Bishop become the recipient of this office by means of money, or any Presbyter, or any Deacon, let him be deposed as well as the one who ordained him, and let him be cut off entirely even from communion, as was Simon the Sorcerer by me, Peter.

(c. II of the 4th; cc. XXII, XXIII of the 6th; cc. IV, V, IX of the 7th; c. XC Of Basil; Epist. Genn. 51; and Taras. on Nahum 1:9.).

In their c. XXV the divine Apostles said that thou shalt not exact vengeance twice for the same offense. In the present Canon they chastise those who get themselves ordained by means of money with a double chastisement on account of the excessiveness of the wickedness, saying thus: Any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, that gets the office of holy orders with money is to be deposed along with the one who ordained him, and let him be entirely excommunicated from the Church and from the prayer of the faithful, just as Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 13:6) was excommunicated by me Peter. For no graver and worse sin can be found than that of selling and buying the unsellable and unpurchaseable grace of the Holy Spirit. Hence divine Tarasius in writing to Adrian or Hadrian), emperor of Rome, pointed out that those who ordain others for money are more ungodly than the pneumatomach Macedonius. For the latter did nothing but prattle that the Holy Spirit was a slave and creature of God the Father; whereas those who ordain others for money appear to make the Holy Spirit a slave of their own, by selling It as a slave to those paying the money; and those thus ordained likewise buy It as a slave from the sellers. In fact, just as Judas the traitor sold the Son of God, so too do they sell the Holy Spirit for money. Nevertheless, in the same epistle of Tarasius, the divine Chrysostom and his synod appear to have equated matters and to have permitted men to commune within the Holy Bema (or Sanctuary) who they paid money to Bishop Antoninus and were ordained.

Not only bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, according to the present Canon, but also subdeacons, and anagnosts, and psalts, down to the steward, and the ecdicus (or advocate), and the Prosmonarius (or warden), all of these office-holders, I say, who have been ordained for money, are to be deposed according to c. II of the 4th; and according to the epistle of Gennadms they are to be subjected to the curse of anathema. But also all those who become brokers or intermediaries in such ordinations for money, if clergymen, they are to be deposed from office; if laymen, or monks, they are to be anathematized, according to the same c. II of the 4th. Again, c. XXII of the 6th deposes from office both those ordained and those who ordained them for money, bishops and clergymen, the c. V of the 7th;reduces them tcirlne lowest grade of their order. In dealing with those who boast of having become numbered among the members of an order of ecclesiastics through money, reproaching others with the assertion that they got into the ranks of the clergy without paying any money. It also quotes the present Apostolical canon and c. II of the 4th. But c. XIX of the same 7th commands that neither those who join the priestly order IIor those who become monks through payment of money shall be accepted. Canon XXIII of the 6th adds that all bishops or presbyters or deacons that demand money or any articles of value from those to whom they expect to administer communion or the divine mysteries, for the sake of letting them partake thereof, are to be deposed from office. Canon IV of the 7th excommunicates any bishop that excommunicates one of his clergymen, or suspends him, or closes a temple of God, on account of any demand for money or other articles of value. See also the equation of matters employed by Basil the Great in regard to simoniacs in the third footnote to his c. XC.

30. If any Bishop comes into possession of a church by employing secular rulers, let him be deposed from office, and let him be excommunicated. And all those who communicate with him too.

(c. II of the 4th; cc. Ill and V of the 7th; c. XIII of Laodicea.).

This Canon too, like the one above, provides double chastisement for one and the same sinful act; for it says: Any bishop that employs secular officials and through their aid or agency contrives to get any bishopric or metropolis, shall be deposed and at the same time excommunicated from the Church. Likewise all clergymen that may communicate with him, whether they be the prelates who ordained him, or presbyters, or deacons, or subdeacons, or anagnosts — all, I say, shall be deposed from their clericature and shall be excommunicated.

Those rulers, or officials, on the other hand, who acted as intermediaries or agents not only are to be excommunicated, but are even to be anathematized by the second canon of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, as aforesaid. And especially in case that ordination in connection with which they acted as intermediaries was one performed for money. For according to c. Ill of the 7th secular rulers ought not to choose bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, nor ought the masses to participate in the election of men to holy orders, according to c. XIII of Laodicea (in a precedent way, that is), but only the bishops and priests of the same order. I said "in a precedent way" because laymen do not vote, since in a sequent way they too have to be asked whether they consent to the vote, either all or a majority (and see in the footnote to Ap. c. II, and that to c. V of Laodicea), first, because if they can point out any true accusation against the candidate, his ordination ought to be prohibited, in accordance with the interpretation of Ap. c. LXI; and secondly, even though they fail to consent to his election, it is possible that they may not accept that prelate for whom only the synod votes; and hence may ensue confusion and division between the bishops and the Christians: though, in point of fact, today the laity are not even asked and their consent is not even taken into consideration in a sequent way. Read also Ap. c. LXI.

31. If any Presbyter, condemning his own bishop, draw people aside, and set up another altar, without finding anything wrong with the Bishop in point of piety and righteousness, let him be deposed, on the ground that he is an office-seeker. For he is a tyrant. Let the rest of clergymen be treated likewise, and all those who abet him. But let the laymen be excommunicated. Let these things be done after one, and a second, and a third request of the Bishop.

(c. XVIII of the 4th; cc. XXXI, XXXIV of the 6th; cc. XIII, XIV, XV of the lst-&-2nd; c. VI of Gangr.; c. V of Antioch; cc. X, XI, LXII of Carthage.).

Order sustains the coherence of both heavenly things and earthly things, according to St. Gregory the Theologian. So good order ought to be kept everywhere as helping coherence and preserving the established system, and especially among ecclesiastics, who need to know their own standards, and to avoid exceeding the limits and bounds of their own class. But as for Presbyters, and Deacons, and all clergymen, they ought to submit to their own Bishop; the Bishops, in turn, to their own Metropolitan; the Metropolitans, to their own Patriarch. On this account the present Apostolical Canon ordains as follows: Any presbyter that scorns his own bishop, and without knowing that the latter is manifestly at fault either in point of piety or in point of righteousness — that is to say, without knowing him to be manifestly either heretical or unjust — proceeds to gather the Christians into a distinct group and to build another church, and should hold services therein separately, without the permission and approval of his bishop in so doing, on the ground of his being an office-seeker he is to be deposed; since like a tyrant with violence and tyranny he is trying to wrest away the authority which belongs to his bishop. But also any other clergymen that agree with him in such apostasy must be deposed from office too just as he must; but as for those who are laymen, let them be excommunicated. These things, however, are to be done after the bishop three times gently and blandly urges those who have separated from him to forgo such a movement, and they obstinately refuse to do so. As for those, however, who separate from their bishop before a synodical investigation because he himself is preaching some misbelief and heresy publicly, not only are not subject to the above penances, but have a right to claim the honor due to Orthodox Christians, according to c. XV of the lst-&-2nd.

In agreement, and almost in the same words, c. V of Antioch cites this Apostolical Canon, adding only that if these men in holy orders who have formed a "parasynagogue," or conventicle, again disturb the Church after their deposition from office, they are to be sobered with external chastisement (concerning which see footnote 1 to Ap. c. XXVII). Both c. XVIII of the 4th and c. XXXIV of the 6th depose clergymen that enter into a conspiracy and faction against their bishop and his fellow clergymen. Canon VI deposes those who baptize, or hold services in prayer-houses, contrary to the advice of their bishop. See also c. LXII of Carthage. Not only this latter, but also c. XIII of the lst-&-2nd, deposes that presbyter or deacon who on account of some crimes or other of his bishop should separate from his communion and refuse to mention his name as usual in the sacred rites before there has been any synodical investigation of his crimes. Likewise a bishop is to be deposed if he dares to do such a thing against his own metropolitan, according to c. XIV of the same lst-&-2nd. Even a metropolitan is likewise to be deposed if he separates from the communion of his own patriarch, according to c. XV of the same. According to c. VI of Gangra, and cc. X and XI of Carthage, presbyters who separate from their own bishop are not only to be deposed but are also to be subjected to anathema. These things are said with reference to, those who separate from their own bishops under the pretext of certain crimes. But c. I of St. Basil the Great chastises priests adhering to parasynagogues by merely suspending them temporarily from holy orders.

32. If any Bishop excommunicates any Presbyter or Deacon, these men must not be incardinated by anyone else but the one who excommunicated them, unless by a coincidence the Bishop who excommunicated them should decease.

(Ap. cc. XII, XIII; c.V of the 1st; c.I of St. Sophia: c.VI of Antioch; c.XIV of Sardican; c.XI, XXVII, CIXI of Carthage.).

Also in their cc. XII and XIII the divine Apostles say that clergymen who have been made inadmissible and excommunicated by their own bishops ought not to be admitted by other bishops. And in this Canon they likewise ordain the same very thing with some addition, by saying: As for any presbyter or deacon that has been excommunicated by his bishop, he is not allowed to be admitted and to be freed from the excommunication, not only by the bishop of any other province, but not even by any other of the same province and metropolis, but can only be admitted and be freed from the excommunication by that same bishop who excommunicated him in the first place: with the sole exception that he may resort to another if the bishop or metropolitan or patriarch, as the case may be, who excommunicated him has by any chance died before the presbyter or deacon has received a pardon. For in that event even a bishop or metropolitan or patriarch who has become the successor after the death of the one who excommunicated him may free him from the bond, and not anyone else.

There are two things that one ought to note in connection with the present Canon: one of them is, that all those who have been excommunicated by their bishop, whether justly or unjustly, ought to abide thus excommunicated, and not dare to ignore the excommunication, until an ecclesiastical inquiry into this matter has been made, according to c. XIV of Sardica and c. XXXVII of Carthage. The sole exception is that if by any chance they should be condemned before being given a trial and summoned into an ecclesiastical court. Another thing to note is that according to c. CXXI of Carthage if a bishop should excommunicate anyone because, though having previously confessed his sin to him he later denied it, the other bishops too must refuse to communicate with the one excommunicating him, for as long a time as he does not communicate with the one who has been excommunicated by him. And this is to be done for the final purpose of keeping the bishop from accusing anyone without being able to prove the accusation to be true. But according to the Nomicon of Photius, Title and ch. 9, and the commentator Balsamon, if by chance a bishop or presbyter should excommunicate anyone from communion (whether it be that of the mysteries, according to Balsamon and Blastaris, or even from standing together with the faithful and from prayer in church) without any canonical and reasonable cause, the excommunication is to be removed by the senior priest, while the bishop or presbyter who imposed the excommunication is to be excommunicated by his superior for as long a period of time as the latter deems sufficient. This is to be done so that he may suffer justly that same punishment which he inflicted upon the other man unjustly. Hence in the volume of the synodical records, page 11, it is written that even while the excommunicator is still alive, the excommunication may be removed by the synod if it was not imposed justly. Hence c. VII of Nicholas also says that an unreasonable bond which an abbot when dying may lay upon another man in order to make him remain in the abbey, though he afterwards has departed, that bond, I say, is one that will not hold, and on this account the one bound by a prelate can be dissolved. See also the Interpretation of Ap. c. XII.

33. None of the foreign Bishops, or Presbyters, or Deacons shall be received without letters commendatory. Even when they bear such, they shall be examined. And if they really are preachers of piety, they shall be received; but if they are not, after furnishing them what they have need of, they shall not be admitted to communion. For many things are done with a view to rapine.

(Ap. c. XII; cc. XI, XIII of the 4th; c. XIV of the 6th; cc. VII, VIII of Antioch; c. XLI of Laodicea; cc. XXXI, XCVII of Carthage.).

In their c. XII the Apostles ordain that no foreign or strange clergyman be admitted by another bishop unless he is provided with letters commendatory. Accordingly, in the present Canon they are likewise ordaining this very same rule with an addition, by saying: No foreign or strange bishop, or presbyter, or deacon ought to be received by other bishops unless such bishop bears letters from his metropolitan, or such presbyter or deacon from his bishop or metropolitan, commendatory both of his faith and of his good life, and especially of his reputation if the latter has been impugned. But even if they do bear such letters commendatory on their person, they are nevertheless to be further examined as to whether they are Orthodox or not; for they may entertain mistaken beliefs, and the one who gave them the letters recommendatory may be unaware of them. But if upon examination they be found to be in reality preachers of Orthodoxy and of piety, then let them be received and admitted to communion (but let them not also be allowed to participate in the exercises of any church in that vicinity and perform the functions of holy orders without having with them in addition to letters commendatory also a letter of dismissal indicating that they have permission to conduct services where they are going, in accordance with c. XVII of the 6th. If, on the other hand, they be found to be cacodoxical and heretical, do not communicate with them, it says, but give them whatever they need in the way of necessities, and send them packing; for many unseemly effects result from such strangers in the nature of rapine for failure to conduct a proper investigation of them. See also the footnote to Ap. c. XII.

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

(cc. VI, VII of the 1st; cc. II, III of the 2nd; c. VIII of the 3rd; o. XXVIII of the 4th; cc. XXXVI, XXXIX of the 6th; c. IX of Antioch.).

Just as, when the head is unwell and fails to function properly, the other members of the body also are ill disposed or even utterly useless, so and in like manner it may be said that if the one acting as head in the Church does not honor her fitly, all the rest of the body of the Church will be out of order and unable to function. It is for this reason that the present Canon ordains that all bishops of every province ought to know who is the chief among them, i.e., the metropolitan; and ought to regard him as their head, and not to do anything unnecessary without consulting him, as respecting, that is to say, anything that does not pertain to the parishes of their bishoprics, but, extending beyond these limits, have to do with the common condition of the whole province, as, for instance, do questions concerning the dogmas, matters involving adjustments and corrections of common mistakes, the installation and ordination of prelates, and other similar things. Instead, they are to meet with the metropolitan and confer with him in regard to such common matters, and decide in common on what appears to them the best thing to be done. Each of the bishops should do by himself, without consulting his metropolitan, only those things that are confined to the limits and boundaries of his bishopric and to the territories that are subject thereto. But just as bishops should do nothing of common interest without consulting the metropolitan, so and in like manner a metropolitan ought not to do anything of such common interest alone and by himself without consulting all his bishops. For in this way there will be concord and love, both between bishops and metropolitans and between clergymen and laymen. The outcome of this concord and love will be that God the Father will be glorified through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who acquainted men with the name of His Father and laid down the law requiring love, when He said: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another" (John 13:35). And He will be glorified in His Holy Spirit, which through Its grace has united us in one spiritual association. That is the same as saying that as a result of this concord the Holy Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — will be glorified, in accordance with the voice of the Gospel which says: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16).

Almost identically the same things are seen to be ordained also in c. IX of Antioch. That is why c. VI of the First Ecumenical Council commands that the ancient customs are to hold; those, that is to say, which had been prevalent in accordance with this Ap. c.; so that the patriarch of Alexandria had control of affairs in Egypt and Libya and Pentapolis, since such was also the custom in connection with the patriarch of Rome too. Likewise the patriarch of Antioch had control of his own provinces; and, in general, the same privileges were preserved to every Church and Metropolis, so that every metropolitan should have control over the provinces subject to him. Canon VII of the same Council ordains that the patriarch of Aelia, i.e., of Jerusalem, is to have the observance of the ancient honor and the dignity of his own Metropolis, Canon III of the 2nd commands that the patriarch of Constantinople is to have the highest honor. Canon VIII of the 3rd, too, demands that the rights belonging to each province be free from constraint and impurity again even as in the beginning, according to the old custom, and especially as respects those of Cyprus. In addition, c. XXXIX of the 6th confirms the same c. VIII of the 3rd.

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

(c. II of the 2nd; c. VIII of the 3rd; c. XX of the 6th; cc. XIII, XXII of Antioch; cc. Ill, XI, XII of’the Sardican.).

This Canon too was ordained for the concord and good order of bishops and metropolitans. It says in effect that a bishop ought not to dare to confer ordinations outside of the boundaries of his bishopric, or to perform any other ecclesiastical function in those cities and countries that are not within his own territory (but neither has a metropolitan the liberty to go into the parishes of his bishops and perform ordinations or any other prelatical ceremony). Only then has he the liberty to perform such functions, when he has been invited by the bishop of the region in question. If, nevertheless, it transpire that he did this without the consent and permission of the bishops who control those cities and territories, let him be deposed who ordained men beyond his boundaries, together with those whom he ordained. For in such a case it would appear that there were two bishops in one and the same place, or two metropolitans, which is unlawful and prohibited by c. VIII of the 1st, and by c. XII of the 4th.

Hence, in its c. XX the Sixth Ecum. C. ordains that whoever goes to a strange bishopric and publicly teaches on his own account and of his own accord, without the local bishop’s permission, shall lose his position in the prelacy and shall be allowed to perform only the functions of a presbyter. Perhaps for no other purpose was this provision made than that of preventing the occurrence of this absurd anomaly, to wit, that of having two bishops at the same time in the same bishopric, one wanting this and the other that, which he dared to do. For if that was not the purpose that this council had in mind, why should it degrade the bishop to the rank of a presbyter, at a time when this degradation amounts to sacrilege, according to c. XXIX of the 4th? Besides, if a bishop teaching beyond his boundaries is unworthy, he ought to be unworthy also of the presbytery; but if he is worthy of the presbytery, why should he not be worthy also of the episcopate? So it is apparent that the reason why it reduces him to the rank of a presbyter is to leave one bishop again in one bishopric, and not two. For he sinned immediately against the episcopal office by causing two bishops to be in the same bishopric, on which account he is deposed therefrom; he did not sin, however, against the office of presbyter, since two or more presbyters are not prohibited from being in the same bishopric, wherefore neither is he deposed therefrom (although Zonaras and Balsamon say that anyone that teaches publicly contrary to the will of the local bishop is on this account reduced to the rank of presbyter, in order to humble him, on the ground that he became vainglorious and exalted himself). Hence sacred Photius (Title IX, ch. 11), to do away with the apparent contradiction of the canons — that is, of c. XXIX of the 4th and c. XX of the 6^th -, proposed c. VIII of the 1st. Nevertheless, even when it comes to performing the office of a presbyter, a bishop from beyond the boundaries must obtain the permission and consent of the local bishop. If he does not have such permission, he cannot exercise the function; he simply has the standing of a laymen in that case as long as he remains in that foreign region, according to the canons. In order to sum up the entirety of the present Apostolical Canon, we may say thus: A bishop who performs a prelatical service in a strange bishopric, with the consent of the bishop thereof, is not performing it with the power and operation of his own episcopate (for in that case there would be two bishops in one bishopric as though possessing two distinct and separate powers and faculties); but, on the contrary, solely with the episcopal power and faculty of the local bishop (for in this case the two bishops are regarded as one bishop). And if this be so, as indeed it is, anyone that performs a prelatical function against the will of the local bishop, is deposed even from his own episcopal power, which, without possessing it, on the score of his being beyond his boundaries, he exercised; as well as from the strange episcopal power of the local bishop, which he might have possessed with the consent and permission of the latter, but which he stole and appropriated as his own.

The same things are ordained also by c. II of the 2nd, wherein the latter prohibits anyone (whether a patriarch or a metropolitan) from meddling in other dioceses beyond his boundaries in order to perform ordinations or to execute other ecclesiastical accomodations. But still more is that true of c. VIII of the 3rd, which ordains that the bishop of Antioch shall not have authority to carry out ordinations in Cyprus, beyond the boundaries of that diocese, which, it says, is contrary to the Apostolical Canons, meaning the present one. Both c. XIII and c. XXIV of Antioch agree in ordaining that no bishop shall dare to meddle in a foreign province and perform any ordinations therein, except only in case he goes there provided with letters of the bishop inviting him; if he do so under contrary circumstances, the ordinations and all other services he may perform shall remain void and invalid. If, however, it so happen that one bishop has lands, say, and substantial property in the province of another bishop, c. XII of the Sardican allows him to go there in order to gather produce, and for three weeks’ duration to attend church in the church that is in the vicinity of his property, but not to go any closer to the city in which the bishop is. That a bishop may not even teach in territory beyond his own boundaries without the consent of the local bishop is stated in c. XX of the 6th above and in c. XI of the Sardican. Canon III of the Sardican, in fact, not only prohibits this, but does not even allow a bishop to go to the province of another bishop without being invited.

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

(c. XXXVII of the 6th; c. XVIII of Aiicyra; cc. XVII and XVIII of Antioch.)

"Obey your rulers and submit" (Heb. 13:17). "Let everyone abide in that whereunto he is called" (I Cor. 7:24), says the divine Apostle. This same thing is what the present Canon ordains, which says: Whoever is ordained, by the divine ceremony of prayers, to be the bishop of a province, or a presbyter or a deacon of a parish, and afterwards will not accept that divine office, and the protection of the laity which has been entrusted to him, but refuses, and does not go to the church assigned to him, let him be excommunicated until he consent to take it. But if, on the other hand, the bishop takes the province, but the laity of the province, because of its insubordination, and spitefulness, and not because of any evil mind and blameworthy cause of the bishop, should refuse to receive him, let him be a bishop — that is to say, let him share in the dignity and office which become a bishop — and let the clergymen of the province which would not receive him be excommunicated, since they failed to train that insubordinate laity better with their teaching and their good example.

37. Twice a year let a council of bishops be held, and let them examine one another in regard to dogmas of piety, and let incidental ecclesiastical contradictions be eliminated: the first one, in the fourth week of Pentecost, the second one, on the twelfth of Hyperberetaeus.

(c. V of the 1st; c. XIX of the 4th; c. VIII of the 6th; c. VI of the 7th; c. XX of Antioch; c. XL of Laod.; cc. XXVI, LX, LXI, LXXXI, LXXXIV, LXXXV, and CIV of Cartilage.).

In regard to doubts concerning dogmas, and in regard to contradictions in matters ecclesiastical, which may beset anyone, and, in general, for the settlement of canonical questions, the divine Apostles command in this Canon that twice in every year there be held a local council, or synod, of bishops together with the metropolitan of every province, in order to examine into the doubts that attend dogmas of piety, and to eliminate every ecclesiastical contradiction that anyone may have in reference to his bishop, about anything, say, either as to why he was excommunicated by him, or as to why he received from him unjustly any other ecclesiastical rebuke or chastisement. Accordingly, one council is to be held in the fourth week of Pentecost, or, more plainly speaking, after Holy Easter; while the other council is to be held on the twelfth day of the month of Hyper-beretaeus, or, more plainly speaking, October. As for how a local council, or synod, differs from an ecumenical council, see the Prolegomena to the First Ecumenical Council. Likewise as to how it differs from a privy council see the Prolegomena to the council held in the time of St. Cyprian (in Carthage, but herein referred to as "the Council of Cyprian"). As for the term synod (the official name, in Greek, of all the various ecclesiastical councils of the Orthodox Church), in general, it designates, according to Blastaris, an assembly of prelates held either in order to have a decision made in regard to piety (and good order of the Church) or in order to have any damage that might have previously occurred or may in the future occur as touching piety (and virtue), with the weapons of piety.

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

(Ap. c. XLI; c. XXVI of the 4th; cc. XI, XII of the 7th; c. VII of the lst-&-2nd; c. XV of Ancyra; cc. VII, VIII of Gangra; cc. XXIV, XXV of Antioch; cc. XXXIV, XLI of Carthage; c. I of Theophilus; c. II of Cyril.).

If a bishop is entrusted with the souls of men, of which all persons are not worthy, much more ought he to be entrusted with the things belonging to the Church. For this reason the present Canon ordains that a bishop should be given the care of all the things belonging to the Church, whether fields and real estate or jewels and furniture; and that he should manage them with fear and carefulness, bearing in mind that God is the supervisor and examiner of his management. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that he has the care and management of them, he has no permission or right to make them his own or to claim any of them as his own, or to give his relatives things consecrated to God. But if his relatives in question are poor, let him give them what they have need of, just as he gives to other poor people. That is to say, let him bestow alms upon them as he would upon the poor in general, and not as upon relatives. Yet he may give them alms out of the fruits and produce gathered every year from the property of the Church, and not on their account may he sell any of them.

Consonantly and word for word in agreement with the above Apostolical Canon c. XXIV of Antioch says that things belonging to the Church ought to be administered with judgment and by authority of the bishop, and that they must be guarded well and kept in the church that possesses them, with faith in God, who is the supervisor and overseer of all. And c. II of Cyril says that they are to remain inalienable in the churches that possess them, be they jewels or real estate; and the bishops are to administer the economy of the expenses incurred. Canon XV of Ancyra says that whatever things of the Lord’s house presbyters may sell without the consent of the bishop, he himself shall take them back or recover them. Canons VII and VIII of Gangra anathematize those who take or give the produce of the church without the consent of the bishop and of the steward. In the Nomicon of Photius, Title and ch. 2, ordinance 21 of Title II of Book I of the Code it is written that whoever buys sacred utensils and spreads, or takes them in pawn and lends money on them loses his money; except only in case he buys them in order that the money may be given for the liberation of slaves. Likewise in the same ordinance it is noted that there must be no alienation of necessary and immovable properties of the temples from the church possessing them. See also the footnote to Ap. C. LXXII. The third ordinance of Title II of the Novels, which is Justinian Novel 131, to be found in Book 5 of Title III (in Photius, Title II ch. 1), ordains that in case anyone leaves any gift by will to a venerable house for charity — no matter what kind of thing it be — if the thing in question is near the church to which it was consecrated, it must not be alienated therefrom. But if it be far away, and both parties are willing — that is to say, both the stewards and the officers of the church, on the one hand, and the heirs of the one who left it in his will — they have permission to exchange it for something near at hand and affording produce or a crop that is easy to carry or easy to haul, giving, if need be, something additional in the exchange, amounting to not less than one-fourth of the value of the thing which was left in his will. Or, if they wish to sell it, they must get as great a price for it as they could derive from its crop and produce as profit during the space of 35 years. This price, though, must be given again to the same church as that to which the charity was left.

39. Let Presbyters and Deacons do nothing without the consent of the Bishop. For he is the one entrusted with the Lord’s people, and it is from him that an accounting will be demanded with respect to their souls.

(c. XIV of the 7th; c. LVII of Laod.; cc. VI, VII, XLI, L of Carthage.).

The present Apostolical Canon ordains that presbyters and deacons cannot perform any sacerdotal or priestly function or office without the consent and permission of their bishop, including both those functions which appertain to the prelatical authority of the bishop and those for which they themselves possess the requisite power, by virtue of the mystery of ordination, but the celebration of which they cannot perform without the bishop’s consent. (These, for example, are their inability to hear confession of sins, or to forgive penitents, according to cc. VI, VII, and L of Carthage, the right to consecrate virgins to God, according to c. VI of the same, their inability to instate and tonsure anagnosts or monks, and other similar things). For, it says, the bishop mainly and pre-eminently has been entrusted with the Lord’s people, and it is from him pre-eminently, as a shepherd, that an accounting will be demanded by God with respect to what he owes, a strict statement concerning the souls of his flock.

Hence according to the present Canon, and in their Injunctions (Book 2, ch. 31 and 32), the divine Apostles ordain that a deacon cannot, of his own accord and on his own initiative, do even the distributing and dividing of the earliest fruits of the season, and of other fruits that are offered to the bishops by the Christians, among needy clergymen, but must distribute these with the advice and consent of the bishop. With the advice and consent of the bishop, too, the presbyters may sell property of the church if this happens to be necessary (see in the Interpretation of Ap. c. XXXVIII), and hear the confession of and grant pardon to repentant sinners, according to cc. VII and L of Carthage, and may tonsure monks, according to Balsamon in his interpretation of c. XIV of the 7th, and may instate anagnosts in the same monastery, being abbots through imposition of the hands of a bishop, according to c. XIV of the 7th, but also subdeacons, according to c. VI of Nicephorus, and they may even set up a stauropegion, according to c. XXVIII of the same Nicephorus, and may excommunicate all clergymen and laymen that are subject to their jurisdiction, whenever they are at fault, according to the Injunctions of the Apostles (Book 8, ch. 28), and they may exercise many other function when acting with the consent of the bishop. Besides this, even deacons, when they receive the bishop’s authorization, may impose canonical penances upon lower clergymen and laymen, but as for the great misdeeds of these men, they bring them to the notice of the bishop, according to the same Injunctions (Book 2, ch. 44). Again, at a time when no presbyter is at hand, they have permission to excommunicate lower clergymen, when the latter deserve to be excommunicated for misdeeds, according to the same Injunctions (Book 8, ch. 28). Wherefore, following the present Apostolical Canon, God-bearing Ignatius, in his epistle to the Magnesians, says the following: "Precisely, then, as the Lord does nothing without the Father, so we too without the bishop. Neither a presbyter nor a deacon. And in his epistle to the Smyrneans: "It is not permissible without the bishop either to baptize or to offer an oblation or to prepare a sacrifice, or to consummate an acceptance, but only whatever seems right to him, according to God’s pleasure; in order that whatever ye may do may be secure and certain." Canon LVII of Laodicea, too, commands that neither chorepiscopi (a term which some have translated "country bishops"), nor exarchs, nor presbyters may do anything without the consent of the bishop of the city.

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

(c. of the 4th; c. XXXV of the 6th; c. XXIV of Antioch; cc. XXX, XL, LXXXIX of Carthage.).

The divine Apostles, esteeming nothing more than justice, prescribe in this Canon of theirs that it must be publicly known what property the bishop owns of his own (if he has any of his own, seeing that he himself is dead to the world and to the things of the world), whether it be things that he acquired previous to becoming a bishop, or things that came to him from inheritance, or a gift of his relatives. The property of the bishop, I mean, must be as well known as the property of the church, of the episcopate, or of the metropolis. To what end? In order that the bishop may have authority, when he dies, to leave his own property to those to whom he wishes to leave it and in any manner that he may wish, provided that he leaves it to Orthodox persons, and not to heretics, and in order to avoid any loss of the bishop’s property because of its being confused with property belonging to the church, since it may sometimes happen that he has a wife and children (and see Ap. c. V), or relatives, or poor servants. Because it is only just and right, both in connection with God and in connection with men, that neither the church should suffer any loss of her own property from any possible relatives or creditors of the bishop, because of his property being separate, but mixed up with that of the church, nor the bishop or the relatives of the bishop be deprived of property belonging to them, because of its being mixed up with property of the church. But neither is it just and right for relatives and heirs of the bishop to be tempted and drawn into many words and court trials in order to separate his property from the property of the church, and on account of all these things for the memory of the dead bishop to be blasphemed, instead of being blessed. So, in order to eliminate all those infinite discussions, the bishop must keep a clean set of account books in which his own property is duly entered, and in accordance with that set of books he ought to draw up his will to be executed upon his death, and to leave, as we have said, his property to whom he wishes. (Nevertheless, the heirs of the bishop ought to pay his debts if he had any). If, however, a bishop, or any other clergyman, or even a deaconess, should die without making a will of his own property, and without having legal heirs, their property devolves upon that church in which they were ordained, according to the Nomicon of Photius (Title X, ch. 5; ordinance 3 of Title II of the Novels).

In promulgating this Apostolical Canon in its own c. XXIV the Council of Antioch ordains the same things. Canon XXII of the 4th says that clergymen must not be permitted to plunder the property of the bishop after his death, as is also forbidden by the old Canons (plainly this means the present Apostolical Canon and that of Antioch); otherwise they incur loss of their rank. Canon XXXV of the 6th says that not even a metropolitan has permission to take the property of the bishop when the latter dies, but, instead, the clergymen of his bishopric must guard it until a new bishop is installed, to whom it is to be given. If, however, it should so happen that no clergymen have been left in the bishopric, the metropolitan is to keep it safe until he can give it to the one who is the incumbent-to-be.

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

(Ap. c. XXXVIII; c. XXVI of the 4th; c. XII of the 7th; cc. XXIV, XXV of Antioch; cc. X, XI of Theophilus; c. II of Cyril; I Cor. 9:13, ib. 7.).

This Canon too, like c. XXXVIII, gives the bishop all authority over ecclesiastical property, by saying: We command that a bishop have authority of the property of the church. For, if we entrust the precious souls of human beings to him, which not all the world deserves to be trusted with, we are at little pains, that is to say, there is no need of our giving special orders, that all the money and property of the church ought to be managed in accordance with the authority he possesses and that it should be distributed among the poor and the indigent with fear of God and every reverence, by means of the presbyters and deacons. And why should these matters be managed and things distributed by means of these men? In order that the bishop may keep himself above every suspicion, and accusation, as that allegedly he consumed it all himself and also makes a bad job of managing it. Because he must be well provided for, not only in the eyes of God, but also in the eyes of men, just as the author of Proverbs was the first to say, and the Apostle Paul said later; and because he must keep himself from giving offense to anyone, and must be irreproachable in everything (Prov. 3:4; Rom. 12:17; I Cor. 10:32; I Tim. 3:2). Nevertheless, even a bishop, it says, must get some of the property of the church for his expenses, including both the necessary wants of his own (if he has wants, that is, and is poor) and also for the wants of all brethren who may become his guests when they visit him, so that in no manner shall either he himself or any of his guests be deprived of necessaries. For God’s law, too, has commanded that those attend the altar and offer sacrifices as priests shall be supplied with and maintained from the altar, that is to say, from the sacrifices which are offered at the altar. Besides, no soldier ever takes up arms against the enemies — i.e never goes to war — at his own expense. Note, however, that the Canon states that bishops are to expend the foodstuffs of the Church only for necessities, and not for superfluities, or in enjoyment and revelries, and that they ought to be hospitable, friendly to the poor, just as blessed St. Paul recommends to Titus and to Timothy that bishops should be (I Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:8).

In agreement with the present Apostolical Canon, c. XI of Theophilus also ordains that widows and indigents and strangers must be provided with all comfort from the property of the Church, and that no bishop must appropriate any of it for himself. See further the Interpretation of Ap. c. XXXVIII.

42. If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon wastes his time by playing dice, or getting drunk, either let him desist therefrom or let him be deposed from office.

(Ap. cc. XLIII, LIV; cc. IX, L of the 6th; c. XXII of the 7th; cc. XXIV, LV of Laod.; cc. XLVII, LXIX of Carthage.).

Those in holy orders to stand before all men as living examples and pictures of all good order and virtue, and as incitements to the doing of good works. But inasmuch as some of them stray away from what is good and virtuous, and employ themselves in playing dice, i.e., in "shooting craps" — in which is included the playing of cards and of other games — not to mention drunken carousals and merrymaking with food and drink, the present Apostolical Canon, taking cognizance of this, ordains that any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who occupies himself with such indecent activities shall either cease them or be deposed from holy orders.

Likewise Ap. c. XLIII ordains that those clergymen, including laymen as well, who occupy themselves in drunkenness and dice shall either cease or be excommunicated. Not only are clergymen forbidden to get drunk, but neither are they even permitted to enter taverns at all to eat, according to Ap. c. LIV and c. IX of the 6th and c. XLVII of Carthage and c. XXIV of Laodicea, nor are they allowed to own a tavern shop at all, according to the same c. IX of the 6th. Moreover, all clergymen and all Christian laymen are forbidden by c. L of the Sixth Ecumenical Council to play dice or cards or other games. In case they are caught doing so, clergymen are to be deposed, and laymen are to be excommunicated. In addition to these prohibitions, c. IV of Laodicea ordains that they must not hold banquets by agreement or with contributions collected from a number of persons gathered together at the same time and place, whether they be in holy orders or clergymen or laymen. Canon LXIX of Carthage commands that Christians cease holding banquets and balls (or dances) and games to the memory of or as feasts to martyrs and other saints, such as those customs which are peculiar to the Greeks and due to their error and godlessness. But neither ought Christians to eat and drink to the accompaniment of musical instruments and whorish and demonish songs, according to c. XXII of the 7th Ecum. C. The Nomicon of Photius (Title IX, ch. 27) says that ordinance 34 of the fourth Title of Book I of the Code decrees as follows: If any bishop or clergyman plays dice or other such games, or holds communion with those who play them, or sits by and watches them play, is to be excommunicated from every sacred function, and to lose the ration he gets from his bishopric or clerical office, until such fixed time limit as he is allowed to repent in. But in case he should persist in his vice even after the expiration of the time limit allowed him for repentance, he is to be driven out of the clergy with all his estate, and become a member of the legislature, or, in other words, a secular official of that political state in which he was a clergyman. The same fate is shared by those clergymen who participate in hunting spectacles and other theatrical exhibitions. It is permissible, however, to a bishop when he sees the prompt repentance of any clergyman playing to reduce the time of the penance of sustension proportionately, and accordingly to give him permission sooner to officiate in his sacerdotal capacity, according to c. XXXIX of the same (7th), titular ordinance 2 of Title I of the Novels. Justinian Novel 123, on the other hand, according to Armenopoulos, commands that clergymen guilty of getting drunk or of playing dice shall be excommunicated and be shut up in a monastery: see also c. XXIV of the 6th Ecum. C.

43. Let any Subdeacon, or Anagnost, or Psalt, who does like things either desist or be excommunicated. Likewise any Layman.

(Ap. c. XLIV, LIV; cc. IX, L of the 6th; cc. XXIV, LV of Laod.; cc. XLVII, LXIX of Carthage.).

This Canon, too, orders that any subdeacon, or anagnost, or psalt (i.e., chanter) who does like things, such as are prohibited by the above c. XLII, or, in other words, who plays dice or cards or any other games, or who spends time in drunkenness and eating and drinking bouts, shall either cease from such indecent doings, or, if he fails to do so, shall be excommunicated. Likewise laymen, too, who spend time in the same way shall either cease doing so or be excommunicated from the congregation of the faithful. See also the preceding c. XLII.