The Letter of the Blessed Dionysius, the Archbishop of Alexandria to Basilides the Bishop who made Enquiries on Various Subjects, to which Dionysius made Answer in this Epistle, which Answers have been received as Canons.
I.
The Letter of the Blessed Dionysius, the Archbishop of Alexandria to Basilides the Bishop who made Enquiries on Various Subjects, to which Dionysius made Answer in this Epistle, which Answers have been received as Canons.[1]
Dionysius to my beloved son, and brother, and fellow minister in holy things, Basilides faithful to God, salutation in the Lord.
Note.
Dionysius, Johnson says, wrote in about a.d. 247.
Canon I.[2]
When the Paschal fast is to be broken depends on the precise hour of our Saviour’s resurrection, and this was not certainly to be known from the Four Evangelists; therefore they who have not fasted the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before Easter, do no great thing if they fast the Friday and Saturday, and so till past three on Easter morning. But they who have fasted the whole six days, are not to be blamed if they break their fast after midnight. Some do not fast any of these days.
Canon II.
Menstruous women ought not to come to the Holy Table, or touch the Holy of Holies,[3] nor to the churches, but pray elsewhere.
Note.
Balsamon notes how the canon educes the example of the woman who had had an issue of blood for twelve years and who therefore did not dare to touch the Lord, but only the “hem of his garment.” He also notes that the question proposed, was whether Christian women should be excluded from the church and need follow the example of the Hebrews, who “when the menstrual flux was upon them, sat in a solitary place by themselves and waited for seven days to pass, and their flux should be over.” The answer given is as above.
Canon III.
They that can contain and are aged ought to judge for themselves. They have heard St. Paul say; that they should “for a time give themselves to prayer, and then come together again.”
Note.
In this epitome Johnson has set forth the meaning of the canon, as understood by the Greek scholiasts, rather than translated and epitomized the canon itself.
Canon IV.
They who have had involuntary nocturnal pollutions be at their own discretion [whether to communicate or not].
Note.
The Saint ends this canon with these words: “I have given opinion on the points about which you have consulted me, not as a doctor, but in all simplicity as it is suitable the relation between us should be. And when you have examined, my most learned son, what I have written you will let me know what seems to you better or whether you agree with my opinions. Farewell, dear son, may your ministry be in the peace of the Lord.”
The Canons of the Blessed Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria, and Martyr, which are found in his Sermon on Penitence.
II.
The Canons of the Blessed Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria, and Martyr,[4] which are found in his Sermon on Penitence.
Canon I.
The fourth Easter from the beginning of the persecution was now come; and orders, that they who did not fall till after they had endured severe torments, and have already been “Mourners” three years, after forty days’ fast, are to be admitted to communion, although they have not been before received [to penance].[5]
Canon II.
But if they endured imprisonment only, without torments, let a year be added to their former penance.
Canon III.
If they fell voluntarily, without torments or imprisonments, but are come to repentance, four years are added to their former penance.
Canon IV.
The case of them who do not repent pronounced desperate.
Canon V.
They that used evasion, and did not right down subscribe the abnegation, or with their own hands incense the idols, but sent a heathen to do it for them, are enjoined six months’ penance, though they have been pardoned by some of the Confessors.
Canon VI.
Slaves forced by their masters to incense idols, and doing it in their master’s stead, are enjoined a year’s penance.
Canon VII.
The masters who forced them to it, are enjoined three years’ penance, as being hypocrites, and as forcing their slaves to sacrifice.
Canon VIII.
They who first fell, and afterwards recovered themselves, by professing themselves Christians, and endured torments, are forthwith admitted to communion.
Canon IX.
That they who provoked the magistrates to persecute themselves and others are to be blamed, yet not to be denied communion.
Canon X.
That clergymen, who run themselves into persecution, and fell, though they did afterward recover themselves, and suffer torments, yet are not to be admitted to perform the sacred offices.
Canon XI.
That they who prayed for them who fell after long torments, be connived at, and we pray together with them, since they lament for what they have done, with anguish and mortification.[6]
Canon XII.
That they who with money purchased their ease and freedom, are to be commended.
Canon XIII.
Nor should we accuse those who ran away, and left all, though others left behind might fare the worse for it.[7]
Canon XIV.
That they who endured tortures, and afterwards, when they were deprived of speech and motion, had their hands forced into the fire, to offer unholy sacrifice, be placed in the Liturgy [i.e., in the diptychs] among the Confessors.
Canon XV.
Wednesday is to be fasted, because then the Jews conspired to betray Jesus; Friday, because he then suffered for us. We keep the Lord’s Day as a day of joy, because then our Lord rose. Our tradition is, not to kneel on that day.
The Canonical Epistle of St. Gregory, Archbishop of Neocæsarea, who is called Thaumaturgus, concerning Them that, During the Incursion of the Barbarians, Ate of Things Offered to Idols and Committed Certain Other Sins.
III.
The Canonical Epistle of St. Gregory, Archbishop of Neocæsarea, who is called Thaumaturgus, concerning Them that, During the Incursion of the Barbarians, Ate of Things Offered to Idols and Committed Certain Other Sins.[8]
Canon I.
That they who have been taken captives by the barbarians, and have eaten with them, be not treated as persons that have eaten things offered to idols; especially because it is universally reported, that they do not sacrifice to idols; nor shall those women who have been ravished by them, be treated as guilty of fornication, unless they were before of lewd lives.
Canon II.
That those Christians who plundered their brethren during the invasion, be excommunicated, lest wrath come on the people, and especially on the presidents,[9] who enquire not into these matters.
Canons III., IV., V.
The pretence of having found those goods, or that they themselves lost things of equal value, shall stand them in no stead, but that they be excluded from prayer.[10]
Canon VI.
Against those who detain them prisoners who had escaped from the barbarians, the holy man[11] expects that such should be thunder-struck, and therefore desires that some enquiry be made upon the spot by persons sent for this purpose.
Canon VII.
That they who joined the barbarians in their murder and ravages, or were guides or informers to them, be not permitted to be hearers, till holy men assembled together do agree in common upon what shall seem good, first to the Holy Ghost, then to themselves.
Canon VIII.
But if they discover themselves, and make restitution, they shall be admitted to be Prostrators.
Canon IX.
They that are convicted to have found (though in their own houses) anything [of their neighbours’] left by the barbarians shall also be Prostrators; but if they shall confess themselves they shall communicate in prayer.
Canon X.
This last privilege is restrained to such as demand nothing as a reward for their discovery, and salvage, or under any pretence whatsoever.
Canon XI.
The station of Mourners is without the gate of the oratory; the station of the Hearers is within the oratory, in the porch with the catechumens; the station of Prostrators is within the door of the temple; the station of Co-standers is among the communicants; the last is the participation of Holy Mysteries.[12]
The Epistle of St. Athanasius to the Monk Ammus.
IV.
The Epistle of St. Athanasius to the Monk Ammus.[13]
(Παντα μὲν καλὰ, κ.τ.λ.)
(This, as Epistle XLVIII, will be found translated in Vol. IV. of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2d Series) p. 556 et seq.)
Involuntary nocturnal pollutions are not sinful, [I add to Johnson the exact words of the Saint. “For what sin or uncleanness can any natural excrement have in itself? Think of the absurdity of making a sin of the wax which comes from the ears or of the spittle from the mouth. Moreover we might add many things and explain how the excretions from the belly are necessary to animal life. But if we believe that man is the work of God’s hand, as we are taught in holy Scripture, how can it be supposed necessary that we perform anything impure? And if we are the children of God, as the holy Acts of the Apostles teaches, we have in us nothing unclean, etc., etc.”]; nor is matrimony unclean, though virginity [“which is angelic and than which nothing can be more excellent”] is to be preferred before it.
The Epistle of the Same Athanasius Taken from the XXXIX. Festal Epistle.
(Found translated in Vol. IV, of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2d series), pp. 551 and 552.)
[Johnson’s epitome is so unsatisfactory that I have been compelled to relegate it to a footnote and to make one in its room of my own.[14]]
As the heretics are quoting apocryphal writings, an evil which was rife even as early as when St. Luke wrote his gospel, therefore I have thought good to set forth clearly what books have been received by us through tradition as belonging to the Canon, and which we believe to be divine. For there are in all twenty-two books of the Old Testament. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. After this comes Joshua, and Judges, and Ruth. The four books of the Kings, counted as two. Then Chronicles, counted the two as one. Then First and Second Esdras [i.e. Ezra and Nehemiah]. After these Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Cantica. To these follow Job, and the Twelve Prophets, counted as one book. Then Isaiah, Jeremiah together with the Epistle of Baruch, the Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
Of the New Testament these are the books [then follows the complete list ending with “the Apocalypse of John”]. These are the fountains of salvation, that whoso thirsteth, may be satisfied by the eloquence which is in them. In them alone (ἐν τούτοις μόνοις) is set forth the doctrine of piety. Let no one add to them, nor take aught therefrom.
I also add for further accuracy that there are certain other books, not edited in the Canon, but established by the Fathers, to be read by those who have just come to us and wish to be instructed in the doctrine of piety. The Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, the Doctrine (Διδαχή) of the Apostles and the Pastor. And let none of the Apocrypha of the heretics be read among you.
The Epistle of St. Athanasius to Ruffinian.
Συ μὲν τὰ υἱῷ, κ.τ.λ.
(Found translated as Epistle LV. in Vol. IV. of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2d Series) pp. 566 and 567.)
It has been determined by synods in Greece, Spain, France, that they who have fallen, or been leaders of impiety [Arianism], be pardoned upon repentance, but that they have not the place of the clergy; but that they who were only drawn away by force, or that complied for fear the people should be corrupted, have the place of the clergy too. Let the people who have been deceived, or forced, be pardoned, upon repentance and pronouncing anathema against the miscreancy of Eudoxius and Euzoius, ringleaders of the Arians (who assert that Christ is a creature); and upon professing the faith of the Fathers at Nice, and that no synod can prejudice that.
The First Canonical Epistle of Our Holy Father Basil, Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia to Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium.
V.
The First Canonical Epistle of Our Holy Father Basil, Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia to Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium.[15]
(This Epistle, number ct xxxviij., is found translated in Volume VIII. of the Second Series of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, p. 223 et seqq.)
Canon I.
As to the question concerning the Puritans the custom of every country is to be observed, since they who have discussed this point are of various sentiments. The [baptism] of the Pepuzenes I make no account of, and I wonder that Dionysius the canonist was of another mind. The ancients speak of heresies, which entirely break men off, and make them aliens from the faith. Such are the Manichæans, Valentinians, Marcionites and Pepuzenes, who sin against the Holy Ghost, who baptize into the Father, Son and Montanus, or Priscilla. Schisms are caused by ecclesiastical disputes, and for causes that are not incurable, and for differences concerning penance. The Puritans are such schismatics. The ancients, viz. Cyprian and Fermilian, put these, and the Encratites, and Hydroparastatæ, and Apotactites, under the same condemnation; because they have no longer the communication of the Holy Ghost, who have broken the succession. They who first made the departure had the spiritual gift; but by being schismatics, they became laymen; and therefore they ordered those that were baptized by them, and came over to the Church, to be purged by the true baptism, as those that are baptized by laymen. Because some in Asia have otherwise determined, let [their baptism] be allowed: but not that of the Encratites; for they have altered their baptism, to make themselves incapable of being received by the Church. Yet custom and the Fathers, that is bishops, who have the administration, must be followed; for I am afraid of putting an impediment to the saved; while I would raise fears in them concerning their baptism. We are not to allow their baptism, because they allow ours, but strictly to observe the canons. But let none be received without unction. When we received Zois and Saturninus to the Episcopal chair, we made, as it were, a canon to receive those in communion with them.
Canon II.
Let her that procures abortion undergo ten years’ penance, whether the embryo were perfectly formed, or not.
Canon III.
A deacon guilty of fornication, is deposed, not excommunicated; for the ancient canon forbids a single crime to be twice punished. And further, a layman excommunicated may be restored to the degree from which he falls, but a clergyman deposed cannot. Yet it is better to cure men of their sins by mortification, and to execute the canon only in cases where we cannot reach what is more perfect.
Canon IV.
They that marry a second time, used to be under penance a year or two. They that marry a third time, three or four years. But we have a custom, that he who marries a third time be under penance five years, not by canon, but tradition. Half of this time they are to be hearers, afterwards Co-standers; but to abstain from the communion of the Good Thing, when they have shewed some fruit of repentance.
Canon V.
Heretics, upon their death-bed, giving good signs of their conversion, to be received.
Canon VI.
Let it not be counted a marriage, when one belonging to the canon commits fornication, but let them be forced to part.[16]
Canon VII.
They who have committed sodomy with men or brutes, murderers, wizards, adulterers, and idolaters, have been thought worthy of the same punishment; therefore observe the same method with these which you do with others. We ought not to make any doubt of receiving those who have repented thirty years for the uncleanness which they committed through ignorance; for their ignorance pleads their pardon, and their willingness in confessing it; therefore command them to be forthwith received, especially if they have tears to prevail on your tenderness, and have [since their lapse] led such a life as to deserve your compassion.
Canon VIII.
He that kills another with a sword, or hurls an axe at his own wife and kills her, is guilty of wilful murder; not he who throws a stone at a dog, and undesignedly kills a man, or who corrects one with a rod, or scourge, in order to reform him, or who kills a man in his own defence, when he only designed to hurt him. But the man, or woman, is a murderer that gives a philtrum, if the man that takes it die upon it; so are they who take medicines to procure abortion; and so are they who kill on the highway, and rapparees.
Canon IX.
Our Lord is equal, to the man and woman forbidding divorce, save in case of fornication; but custom requires women to retain their husbands, though they be guilty of fornication. The man deserted by his wife may take another, and though he were deserted for adultery, yet St. Basil will be positive, that the other woman who afterward takes him is guilty of adultery; but the wife is not allowed this liberty. And the man who deserts an innocent wife is not allowed to marry.
Canon X.
That they who swear that they will not be ordained, be not forced to break their oath. Severus, Bishop of Masada, who had ordained Cyriacus priest to a country church, subject to the Bishop of Mesthia, is referred to the divine tribunal, upon his pretending that he did it by surprise. Cyriacus had upon his ordination, been forced, contrary to canon, to swear that he would continue in that country church; but the Bishop of Mesthia, to whom that church properly belonged, forced him out. St. Basil advises Amphilochius to lay the country church to Masada, and make it subject to Severus, and to permit Cyriacus to return to it and save his oath; and by this means he supposes that Longinus, the lord of that country, would be prevailed upon to alter his resolution of laying that church desolate, as he declared he would upon Cyriacus’s expulsion.
Canon XI.
He that is guilty of involuntary murder, shall do eleven years’ penance—that is, if the murdered person, after he had here received the wound, do again go abroad, and yet afterward die of the wound.
Canon XII.
The canon excludes from the ministry those who are guilty of digamy.
Canon XIII.
Our fathers did not think that killing in war was murder; yet I think it advisable for such as have been guilty of it to forbear communion three years.
Canon XIV.
An usurer, giving his unjust gain to the poor, and renouncing his love of money, may be admitted into the clergy.
Canons XV. and XVI.
Not properly canons, but explications of Scripture, and therefore neither Balsamon, nor Aristenus, regard them as canons.
The Second Canonical Epistle of the Same.
(This is found translated in the same volume last referred to, Epistle cxcix., p. 236 et seqq.)
Canon XVII.
I made a canon, that they at Antioch, who had sworn not to perform the sacred offices should not do it publicly, but in private only: As to Bianor, he is removed from thence to Iconium, and therefore is more at liberty; but let him repent of his rash oath which he made to an infidel for avoiding a small danger.
Canon XVIII.
That the ancients received a professed virgin that had married, as one guilty of digamy, viz., upon one year’s penance; but they ought to be dealt with more severely than widows professing continency, and even as adulterers: But they ought not to be admitted to profess virginity till they are above sixteen or seventeen years of age, after trial, and at their own earnest request; whereas relations often offer them that are under age, for their own secular ends, but such ought not easily to be admitted.
Canon XIX.
That men, though they seem tacitly to promise celibacy, by becoming monks, yet do it not expressly; yet I think fit that they be interrogated too, and that a profession should be demanded of them, that if they betake themselves to a carnal life, they may be punished as fornicators.
Canon XX.
Women professing virginity, though they did marry while they were heretics, or catechumens, yet are pardoned by baptism. What is done by persons in the state of catechumens, is never laid to their charge.
Canon XXI.
A married man committing lewdness with a single woman, is severely punished as guilty of fornication, but we have no canon to treat such a man as an adulterer; but the wife must co-habit with such a one: But if the wife be lewd, she is divorced, and he that retains her is [thought] impious; such is the custom, but the reason of it does not appear.
Canon XXII.
That they who have stolen virgins, and will not restore them, be treated as fornicators; that they be one year mourners, the second hearers, the third received to repentance and the fourth be co-standers, and then admitted to communion of the Good Thing. If the virgins be restored to those who had espoused them, it is at their discretion to marry them, or not; if to their guardians, it is at their discretion to give them in marriage to the raptors, or not.
Canon XXIII.
That a man ought not to marry two sisters, nor a woman two brothers: That he who marries his brother’s wife, be not admitted till he dismiss her.
Canon XXIV.
A widow put into the catalogue of widows, that is, a deaconess being sixty years old, and marrying, is not to be admitted to communion of the Good Thing, till she cease from her uncleanness; but to a widower that marries no penance is appointed, but that of digamy. If the widow be less than sixty, it is the bishop’s fault who admitted her deaconess, not the woman’s.
Canon XXV.
He that marries a woman that he has corrupted, shall be under penance for corrupting her, but may retain her for his wife.
Canon XXVI.
Fornication is neither marriage, nor the beginning of marriage. If it may be, it is better that they who have committed fornication together be parted; but if they be passionate lovers, let them not separate, for fear of what is worse.
Canon XXVII.
As for the priest that is engaged, through ignorance, in an unlawful marriage, I have decreed, that he retain the honour of the chair; but forbear all sacred operations, and not give the blessing either in private, or public, nor distribute the Body of Christ to another, nor perform any liturgy; but let him bewail himself to the Lord, and to men, that his sin of ignorance may be pardoned.
Canon XXVIII.
That it is ridiculous to vow not to eat swine’s flesh, and to abstain from it is not necessary.
Canon XXIX.
That princes ought not to swear to wrong their subjects: that such rash oaths ought to be repented of, and evil not to be justified under pretence of religion.
Canon XXX.
That they who steal women, and their accomplices, be not admitted to prayers, or be co-standers for three years. Where no violence is used, there no crime is committed, except there be lewdness in the case. A widow is at her own discretion. We must not mind vain pretences.
Canon XXXI.
She, whose husband is absent from home, if she co-habits with another man, before she is persuaded of his death, commits adultery.
Canon XXXII.
The clergyman who is deposed for mortal sin, shall not be excommunicated.
Canon XXXIII.
That a woman being delivered of a child in a journey, and taking no care of it, shall be reputed guilty of murder.
Canon XXXIV.
That the crime of women under penance for adultery, upon their own confession, or otherwise convicted, be not published, lest it occasion their death; but that they remain out of communion the appointed time.
Canon XXXV.
If a woman leave her husband, and if it do upon inquiry appear, that she did it without reason, she deserves to be punished; but let him continue in communion.
Canon XXXVI.
A soldier’s wife marrying after the long absence of her husband, but before she is certified of his death, is more pardonable than another woman, because it is more credible that he may be dead.
Canon XXXVII.
That he, who having another man’s wife or spouse taken away from him, marries another, is guilty of adultery with the first, not with the second.
Canon XXXVIII.
If a woman run after him that has corrupted her, she shall be under penance three years, though the parents be reconciled to her.
Canon XXXIX.
She, who continues to live with an adulterer, is all that time an adulteress.
Canon XL.
She that [being a slave] gives herself up to the will of a man, without the consent of her master, commits fornication; for pacts of those who are under the power of others are null.
Canon XLI.
A widow being at her own discretion, may marry to whom she will.
Canon XLII.
Slaves marrying without the consent of their masters, or children without consent of their fathers, it is not matrimony but fornication, till they ratify it by consenting.
Canon XLIII.
That he who gives a mortal wound to another is a murderer, whether he were the first aggressor, or did it in his own defence.
Canon XLIV.
The deaconess that has committed lewdness with a pagan is not to be received to communion, but shall be admitted to the oblation, in the seventh year—that is, if she live in chastity. The pagan, who after [he has professed] the faith, betakes himself again to sacrilege, returns [like the dog] to his vomit: we therefore do not permit the sacred body of a deaconess to be carnally used.
Canon XLV.
He that assumes the name of a Christian, but reproaches Christ, shall have no advantage from his name.
Canon XLVI.
She that marries a man who was deserted for a while by his wife, but is afterward dismissed upon the return of the man’s former wife, commits fornication, but ignorantly: she shall not be prohibited marriage, but it is better that she do not marry.
Canon XLVII.
Encratites, Saccophorians, and Apotactites, are in the same case with the Novatians. We re-baptize them all. There is a diversity in the canons relating to the Novatians, no canon concerning the other. If it be forbid with you, as it is at Rome for prudential causes, yet let reason prevail. They are a branch of the Marcionists; and though they baptize in the name of the three divine Persons, yet they make God the author of evil, and assert, that wine and the creatures of God, are defiled. The bishops ought to meet, and so to explain the canon, that he who does [baptize such heretics] may be out of danger, and that one may have a positive answer to give to those that ask it.
Canon XLVIII.
A woman dismissed from her husband, ought to remain unmarried, in my judgment.
Canon XLIX.
If a slave be forced by her master, she is innocent.
Canon L.
We look on third marriages as disgraceful to the Church, but do not absolutely condemn them, as being better than a vague fornication.
The Third Epistle of the Same to the Same.
(Found in lib. cit., p. 255, et seqq. Epistle ccxvij. )
Canon LI.
That one punishment be inflicted on lapsing clergymen, viz.: deposition, whether they be in dignity, or in the ministry which is given without imposition of hands.
Canon LII.
A woman delivered in the road, and neglecting her child, is guilty of murder, unless she was under necessity by reason of the solitude of the place, and the want of necessaries.
Canon LIII.
A widow slave desiring to be married a second time, has, perhaps, been guilty of no great crime in pretending that she was ravished; not her pretence, but voluntary choice is to be condemned; but it is clear, that the punishment of digamy is due to her.
Canon LIV.
That it is in the bishop’s power to increase or lessen penance for involuntary murder.
Canon LV.
They that are not ecclesiastics setting upon highwaymen, are repelled from the communion of the Good Thing; clergymen are deposed.
Canon LVI.
He that wilfully commits murder, and afterwards repents, shall for twenty years remain without communicating of the Holy Sacrament. Four years he must mourn without the door of the oratory, and beg of the communicants that go in, that prayer be offered for him; then for five years he shall be admitted among the hearers, for seven years among the prostrators; for four years he shall be a co-stander with the communicants, but shall not partake of the oblation; when these years are completed, he shall partake of the Holy Sacrament.
Canon LVII.
The involuntary murderer for two years shall be a mourner, for three years a hearer, four years a prostrator, one year a co-stander, and then communicate.
Canon LVIII.
The adulterer shall be four years a mourner, five a hearer, four a prostrator, two a co-stander.
Canon LIX.
The fornicator shall be a mourner two years, two a hearer, two a prostrator, one a co-stander.
Canon LX.
Professed virgins and monks, if they fall from their profession, shall undergo the penance of adulterers.
Canon LXI.
The thief, if he discover himself, shall do one year’s penance; if he be discovered [by others] two; half the time he shall be a prostrator, the other half a co-stander.
Canon LXII.
He that abuses himself with mankind, shall do the penance of an adulterer.
Canon LXIII.
And so shall he who abuses himself with beasts, if they voluntarily confess it.
Canon LXIV.
The perjured person shall be a mourner two years, a hearer three, a prostrator four, a co-stander one.
Canon LXV.
He that confesses conjuration, or pharmacy, shall do penance as long as a murderer.
Canon LXVI.
He that digs the dead out of their graves, shall be a mourner two years, a hearer three years, a prostrator four years, a co-stander one year.
Canon LXVII.
Incest with a sister is punished as murder.
Canon LXVIII.
All incestuous conjunction, as adultery.
Canon LXIX.
A reader or minister lying with a woman he has only espoused, shall cease from his function one year; but if he have not espoused her, he shall [wholly] cease from his ministry.
Canon LXX.
The priest or deacon that is polluted in lips, shall be made to cease from his function, but shall communicate with the priests or deacons. He that does more shall be deposed.
Canon LXXI.
He that is convicted to have been conscious to any of these crimes, but not discovered it, shall be treated as the principal.
Canon LXXII.
He that gives himself to divination, shall be treated as a murderer.
Canon LXXIII.
He that denied Christ, is to be communicated at the hour of death, if he confess it, and be a mourner till that time.
Canon LXXIV.
[The bishop] that has the power of binding and loosing, may lessen the time of penance, to an earnest penitent.
Canon LXXV.
He that commits incest with a half-sister, shall be a mourner three years, a hearer three years, a co-stander two years.
Canon LXXVI.
And so shall he be who takes in marriage his son’s wife.
Canon LXXVII.
He that divorces his wife, and marries another, is an adulterer; and according to the canons of the Fathers, he shall be a mourner one year, a hearer two years, a prostrator three years, a co-stander one year, if they repent with tears.
Canon LXXVIII.
So shall he who successively marries two sisters.
Canon LXXIX.
So shall he who madly loves his mother-in-law, or sister.
Canon LXXX.
The Fathers say nothing of polygamy as being beastly, and a thing unagreeable to human nature. To us it appears a greater sin than fornication: Let therefore such [as are guilty of it] be liable to the canons, viz.: after they have been mourners one year—let them be prostrators three years—and then be received,
Canon LXXXI.
They who in the invasion of the barbarians have after long torments, eaten of magical things offered to idols, and have sworn heathen oaths, let them not be received for three years; for two years let them be hearers, for three years prostrators, so let them be received; but they who did it without force, let them be ejected three years, be hearers two years, prostrators three years, co-standers three years, so let them be admitted to communion.
Canon LXXXII.
They who by force have been driven to perjury, let them be admitted after six years; but if without force, let them be mourners two years, hearers two years, the fifth year prostrators, two years co-standers.
Canon LXXXIII.
They that follow heathenish customs, or bring men into their houses for the contriving pharmacies, or repelling them, shall be one year mourners, one year hearers, three years prostrators, one year co-standers.
Canon LXXXIV.
We do not judge altogether by the length of time, but by the circumstances of the penance. If any will not be drawn from their carnal pleasures, and choose to serve them rather than the Lord, we have no communication with them.
Canon LXXXV.
Let us take care that we do not perish with them; let us warn them by night and day, that we may deliver them out of the snare or however save ourselves from their condemnation.
From an Epistle of the Same to the Blessed Amphilochius on the Difference of Meats.
(Found translated in lib. cit., p. 287, part of Epistle ccxxxvj.)
Canon LXXXVI.
Against the Encratites, who would not eat flesh.
Of the Same to Diodorus Bishop of Tarsus, concerning a Man who had taken Two Sisters to Wife.
(Found translated in lib. cit., p. 212 et seqq. Epistle clx.)
Canon LXXXVII.
Contains the preface of his letter to Diodorus Bishop of Tarsus, in which he tells him of a letter shewed him in justification of a man’s marrying two sisters bearing his name; but he hopes it was forged.
Canon LXXXVIII.
Contains the rest of the letter, in which he argues and inveighs against this practice.
Of the Same to Gregory a Presbyter, that He Should Separate from a Woman who Dwelt with Him.
Canon LXXXIX.
A letter to Gregory, an unmarried priest, charging him to dismiss a woman whom he kept, though he was 70 years of age, and declared himself free from all amorous affections; and St. Basil would seem to believe him in this particular; but cites the III. canon of Nice against this practice, bids him avoid scandal, place the woman in a monastery, and be attended by men: he threatens him that if he does not comply, he shall die suspended from his office, and give account to God: that he shall be an anathema to all the people, and they who receive him [to communion] be excommunicated.
Of the Same to the Chorepiscopi, that No Ordinations Should Be Made Contrary to the Canons.
(Found translated in Vol. VIII. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, p. 157. Epistle liv.)
Canon XC.
A letter to his Village-bishop:[17] he complains of the want of discipline of the multiplying of the clergy, and that without due examination and enquiry into their morals; that they had dropped the old custom, which was for the priests and deacons to recommend to the Village Bishop, who taking the testimonial, and giving notice of it to the [City] Bishop, did afterwards admit the minister into the sacerdotal list; that the number of the inferior clergy was unreasonably increased, especially in time of war, when men got into orders to avoid the press: he orders a list of the clergy in every village to be sent to him, and who admitted him, if any have been admitted into the inferior orders by priests, that they be looked on as laymen. Let not who will, put his name into the list. Re-examine those who are there, expel the unworthy, admit none without my consent for the future; if you do he shall be counted a layman.
Of the Same to His Suffragans that They Should Not Ordain for Money.
(Found translated in lib. cit., pp. 156 and 157. Epistle liii.)
Canon XCI.
One letter to the bishop subject to him, wherein he prohibits to take money for orders, and to bring merchandize into the church, which is entrusted with the Body, and Blood of Christ; they had their pay after the ordination was performed; this he calls an artifice, and declares, that he who is guilty of it shall depart from the altar in his country, and go buy and sell the gift of God where he can.
From Chapter XVII. of the Book St. Basil Wrote to Blessed Amphilochius on the Holy Ghost.
(Found translated in lib. cit., p. 40 et seqq.)
Canon XCII.
He speaks of the written doctrine, and the unwritten tradition of the Apostles, and says, that both have the same efficacy as to religion. The unwritten traditions which he mentions, are the signing those who hope in Christ with the Cross; praying toward the East, to denote, that we are in quest of Eden, that garden in the East from whence our first parents were ejected (as he afterwards explains it), the words of invocation at the consecration of the Bread of Eucharist, and the cup of eulogy; the benediction of the baptismal water, the chrism and of the baptized person; the trine immersion, and the renunciations made at baptism; all which the Fathers concealed from those who were not initiated. He says the dogmata were always kept secret, the Kerugmata published; he adds the tradition of standing at prayer on the first day of the week, and the whole Pentecost (that is, from Easter to Whitsunday), not only to denote our rising with Christ, but as a prefiguration of our expecting an eternal perfect day, for the enjoyment of which we erect ourselves; and lastly, the profession of our faith in Father, Son and Holy Ghost at baptism.
Canon XCIII.
He asserts the Doxology [in these words] “with the Holy Spirit,” to be an unwritten, Apostolic tradition. For this is a dogma full of authority, venerable for its antiquity.
From the Letter of Basil the Great to the Nicopolitans.
There is also in Tilius and Bishop Beveridge here[18] inserted an epistle of St. Basil the Great to the Nicopolitans, comforting them under the loss of their church or oratory, and telling them, that they ought not to be concerned that they worship God in the open air, for that the eleven Apostles worshipped God in an upper room, where they were cooped up, while they that crucified Jesus performed their worship in a most famous Temple.
The Canonical Epistle of St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, to St. Letoïus, Bishop of Melitene.
VI.
The Canonical Epistle of St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, to St. Letoïus, Bishop of Melitene.[19]
Canon I.
At Easter not only they who are transformed by the grace of the laver, i.e. baptism, but they who are penitents and converts, are to be brought to God, i.e. to the Communion: for Easter is that Catholic feast in which there is a resurrection from the fall of sin.
Canon II.
They who lapse without any force, so as to deny Christ, or do by choice turn Jews, idolaters, or Manichees, or infidels of any sort, not to be admitted to communion till the hour of death; and if they chance to recover beyond expectation, to return to their penance. But they who were forced by torments, to do the penance of fornication.
Canon III.
If they who run to conjurers or diviners, do it through unbelief, they shall be treated as they who wilfully lapse, but if through want of sense, and through a vain hope of being relieved under their necessities, they shall be treated as those who lapse through the violence of torment.
Canon IV.
That fornicators be three years wholly ejected from prayer, three years hearers, three years prostrators, and then admitted to communion; but the time of hearing and prostrating may be lessened to them who of their own accord confess, and are earnest penitents. That this time be doubled in case of adultery, and unlawful lusts, but discretion to be used.
Canon V.
Voluntary murderers shall be nine years ejected out of the church, nine years hearers, nine years prostrators; but every one of these nine years may be reduced to seven or six, or even five, if the penitents be very diligent. Involuntary murderers to be treated as fornicators, but still with discretion, and allowing the communion on a death-bed, but on condition, that they return to penance if they survive.
Canon VI.
That the Fathers have been too gentle toward the idolatry of covetous persons, in condemning to penance only robbery, digging of graves, and sacrilege, whereas usury and oppression, though under colour of contract, are forbidden by Scripture. That highwaymen returning to the Church, be treated as murderers. They that pilfer, and then confess their sin to the priest, are only obliged to amendment, and to be liberal to the poor; and if they have nothing, to labour and give their earnings.
Canon VII.
They who dig into graves, and rake into the ashes and bones of the dead, in order to find some valuable thing buried together with the corpse, (not they who only take some stones belonging to a sepulchre, in order to use them in building) to do the penance of fornicators.
Canon VIII.
He observes that by the law of Moses, sacrilege was punished as murder, and that the guilty person was stoned to death, and thinks the Fathers too gentle, in imposing a shorter penance on sacrilege than adultery.
From the Metre Poems of St. Gregory Theologus, Specifying which Books of the Old and New Testament Should Be Read.
VII.
From the Metre Poems of St. Gregory Theologus, Specifying which Books of the Old and New Testament Should Be Read.[20]
Let not other books seduce your mind: for many malignant writings have been disseminated. The historical books are twelve in number by the Hebrew count, [then follow the names of the books of the Old Testament but Esther is omitted, one Esdras, and all the Deutero-Canonical books]. Thus there are twenty-two books of the Old Testament which correspond to the Hebrew letters. The number of the books of the New Mystery are Matthew, who wrote the Miracles of Christ for the Hebrews; Mark for Italy; Luke, for Greece; John, the enterer of heaven,[21] was a preacher to all, then the Acts, the xiv. Epistles of Paul, the vii. Catholic Epistles, and so you have all the books. If there is any beside these, do not repute it genuine.
From the Iambics of St. Amphilochius the Bishop to Seleucus, on the Same Subject.
VIII.
From the Iambics of St. Amphilochius the Bishop to Seleucus, on the Same Subject.[22]
We should know that not every book which is called Scripture is to be received as a safe guide. For some are tolerably sound and others are more than doubtful. Therefore the books which the inspiration of God hath given I will enumerate. [Then follows a list of the proto-canonical books of the Old Testament, Esther alone being omitted. All the deutero-canonical books are omitted. He then continues] to these some add Esther. I must now show what are the books of the New Testament. [Then follow all the books of the New Testament except the Revelation. He continues,] But some add to these the Revelation of John, but by far the majority say that it is spurious. This is the most true canon of the divinely given Scriptures.
Note.
We have thus four [five if we accept the Laodicean list as genuine,] different canons of Holy Scripture, all having the approval of the Council in Trullo and of the Seventh Ecumenical. From this there seems but one conclusion possible, viz.: that the approval given was not specific but general.
The Canonical Answers of Timothy the Most Holy Bishop of Alexandria, Who was One of the CL Fathers Gathered Together at Constantinople, to the Questions Proposed to Him concerning Bishops and Clerics.
IX.
The Canonical Answers of Timothy the Most Holy Bishop of Alexandria, Who was One of the CL Fathers Gathered Together at Constantinople, to the Questions Proposed to Him concerning Bishops and Clerics.[23]
Question I.
If a lad of seven years old, or a man, being a catechumen, being present at the oblation, does eat of it through ignorance, what shall be done in this case?
Answer. Let him be illuminated, i.e. baptized, for he is called by God.
Question II.
If baptism be desired for a catechumen that is possessed, what shall be done?
Answer. Let him be baptized at the hour of death, not otherwise.
Question III.
Ought a communicant to communicate, if he be possessed?
Answer. If he do not expose or blaspheme the Mysteries, let him communicate not always, but at certain times.
Question IV.
If a catechumen be sick, and in a frenzy, so that he cannot make profession of his faith, can he be baptized, at the entreaty of his friends?
Answer. He may, if he be not possessed.
Question V.
Can a man or woman communicate after performing the conjugal act over night?
Answer. No. 1 Cor. 7:5.
Question VI.
The day appointed for the baptism of a woman; on that day it happened that the custom of women was upon her; ought she then to be baptized?
Answer. No, not till she be clean.
Question VII.
Can a menstruous woman communicate?
Answer. Not until she be clean.
Question VIII.
Ought a woman in child-bed to keep the Paschal fast?
Answer. No.
Question IX.
Ought a clergyman to perform the oblation, or pray, while an Arian or heretic is present?
Answer. As to the divine oblation, the deacon, after the kiss, makes a proclamation, “Let all that are not Communicants walk off;” therefore such persons ought not to be present, except they promise to repent, and renounce their heresy.
Question X.
Is a sick man obliged to keep the Paschal fast?
Answer. No.
Question XI.
If a clergyman be called to celebrate a marriage, and have heard that it is incestuous; ought he to comply, and perform the oblation?
Answer. No; he must not be partaker of other men’s sins.
Question XII.
If a layman ask a clergyman whether he may communicate after a nocturnal pollution?
Answer. If it proceed from the desire of a woman, he ought not: but if it be a temptation from Satan, he ought; for the tempter will ply him when he is to communicate.
Question XIII.
When are man and wife to forbear the conjugal act?
Answer. On Saturday, and the Lord’s day; for on those days the spiritual sacrifice is offered.
Question XIV.
Shall there be an oblation for him, who being distracted, murders himself?
Answer. Not except the case be very clear that he was distracted.
Question XV.
If one’s wife be possessed to such a degree, as that she be bound with irons, and the man cannot contain, may he marry another?
Answer. I can only say it would be adultery so to do.
Question XVI.
If a man in washing or bathing, swallow a drop of water, may he communicate after it?
Answer. If Satan find an occasion of hindering us from the communion, he will the oftener do it.
Question XVII.
Are they, who hear the Word, and do it not, damned?
Answer. If we neither do it, or repent that we have not done it.
Question XVIII.
At what age are sins imputed to us by God?
Answer. According to every one’s capacity and understanding; to one at ten, to another when older.
The Prosphonesus of Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, When the Holy Epiphanies Happened to Fall on a Sunday.
X.
The Prosphonesus of Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, When the Holy Epiphanies Happened to Fall on a Sunday.[24]
Canon I.
Because the fast of Epiphany chances to fall on a Lord’s day, let us take a few dates, and so break our fast, and honour the Lord’s day, and shew our dislike of heresy, and yet not wholly neglect the fast which should be observed on this day; eating no more till our evening assembly at three afternoon.
The Commonitory of the Same which Ammon Received on Account of Lycus.
Canon II.
Let [the priests] who have communicated with the Arians, be retained or rejected, as the custom of every church is; but so, that other orthodox [priests] be ordained, though the others continue. As the orthodox bishops did in Thebais, so let it be in other cities. They who were ordained by Bishop Apollo, and afterwards communicated with the Arians, if they did it of their own accord, let them be censured; but if they only did it in obedience to the bishop, let them be continued; but if all the people abdicate them, others must be ordained. And if Bistus the priest be found to have committed uncleanness with a woman dismissed from her husband, let him not be permitted to be a priest. But this is no prejudice to the bishop who ordained him, if he did it ignorantly; since the Holy Synod commands unworthy men to be ejected, though they be not convicted until after ordination.
Canon III.
Let Bishop Apollo’s sentence against his priest Sur prevail, though he has the liberty of being further heard.
Canon IV.
If Panuph the deacon married his brother’s daughter before baptism, let him continue among the clergy, if she be dead, and he had not to do with her after his baptism; but if he married her, and cohabited with her while he was a communicant, let him be ejected from the clergy, without prejudice to the bishop who ordained him, if he did it ignorantly.
Canon V.
If it do evidently appear, that Jacob, while he was reader, did commit fornication, and was ejected by the priests (πρεσβυτέρων), and yet afterwards ordained, let him be ejected, and not otherwise.
Canon VI.
That all in holy orders unanimously choose those who are to be ordained, and then the bishop examine [them]; or that the bishop ordain them in the midst of the church, all that are in holy orders consenting, and the bishop with a loud voice asking the people, who are then to be present, whether they can give their testimony [to the parties to be ordained]; and that ordination be not performed in private; if there be in the remote country, who while they were communicants [with the Arians] communicated in their opinions, let them not be ordained until they be examined by orthodox clergymen, in the presence of the bishop, who is to charge the people, that there be no running up and down in the middle of the church, or service.
Canon VII.
Let the clergymen distribute all that is offered by way of sacrifice, after so much as was necessary has been consumed in the Mysteries. Let not the catechumens taste of them, but clergymen and communicants only.[25]
Canon VIII.
One, Hierax, had delated a clergyman as guilty of fornication. Bishop Apollo defended him. Theophilus orders the matter to be examined.
Canon IX.
That an Œconomus be created, by the consent of all that are in Holy Orders, with the concurrence of Bishop Apollo, that so the goods of the Church be expended as they ought.
Canon X.
That the widows, poor, and travellers be not disturbed; and that no one make a property of the goods of the Church.
Of the Same to Agatho the Bishop.
Whereas Maximus has for ten years lived in unlawful marriage, but pretends that it was through ignorance, and that they are now parted by mutual consent, let them stand among the catechumens, if it appear that they be in earnest.
Of the Same to Menas the Bishop.
Theophilus was informed, that the priest in Geminus, a village, had repelled Kyradium (a woman) from the communion: Theophilus approves of it, because she had done wrong, and was unwilling to make satisfaction; but orders her to be admitted to communion upon repentance.
The Narrative of the Same concerning Those Called Cathari.
Because the great synod held at Nice has decreed, That [the clergymen] who come over to the Church from the Novatians be ordained; do you ordain those that come over, if their life be upright, and there be no objection.
The Canonical Epistle of Our Holy Father Among the Saints, Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, on the Hymns.
XI.
The Canonical Epistle of Our Holy Father Among the Saints, Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, on the Hymns.[26]
Cyril to Domnus.
This letter contains a complaint of one, Peter, deposed from his See, yet retaining the character of a bishop, who thought his cause good, but complains that he had not time and opportunity given him for his defence; and that whatever he had, was taken away from him. He desires Domnus, who was a Metropolitan, that he would call a synod, and let him have a hearing; and that such bishops as Peter suspected of prejudice against him should not be permitted to be his judges. He thinks it very hard, that not only what belonged to the Church, but every thing else was taken from him; and complains that all bishops were called to account for every thing they received, whether from the Church, or by any other means. Peter had indeed signed an instrument of resignation; but Cyril says, that he was terrified into it; and that he would have no such resignation be of force except he that made it deserved deposition.
Of the Same to the Bishops of Libya and Pentapolis.
There is another Epistle of the same father, complaining to the bishops of Libya and Pentapolis. That some who had been refused ordination by their own bishop, or cast out of the monasteries for their irregularity, were ordained by a surprise upon some other bishop, and that just as they came from their bride-bed, and then went and performed the oblation, or any other office, in the monasteries from which they had been ejected, which gave great offence. He charges the bishops to take care of this for the future and, if any were to be ordained, to enquire into their lives, and whether they are married, and when, and how; and orders, that catechumens, who had been separated for lapsing, be baptized at the hour of death.
The Encyclical Letter of Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople and of the Holy Synod Met with Him to All the Holy Metropolitans and to the Pope of the City of Rome.
XII.[27]
The Encyclical Letter of Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople and of the Holy Synod Met with Him to All the Holy Metropolitans and to the Pope of the City of Rome.[28]
To the most beloved of God, fellow-minister, Gennadius and the most holy synod assembled in the royal city which is New Rome, sendeth greeting.
As our Lord without money and without price ordained his Apostles, so should we ordain the clergy, for the Lord has placed us in their grade and in their stead (ἐις τὸν ἐκείνων βαθηόν τε καὶ τόπον). Nor should we use any ingenious sophisms to avoid this plain duty, explicitly laid upon us, not only by the words of the Gospel but also by a canon of the great Ecumenical Synod of Chalcedon.