Canons 6–15

Canon 6. On holding the local synod at the appointed time.

There is a canon that says the inquiries required by the canons are to be made twice a year in each province, in the gatherings of the bishops. But because of the hardships of travel that those who came together this way had to bear, the holy fathers of the Sixth Council decreed that once each year, whatever the place and whatever excuse might be offered, a council should be held and the things that are wrong set right. This canon we now renew. If any ruler is found hindering this from being carried out, let him be excommunicated. And if any of the metropolitans takes no care that it is done, though he is free from compulsion or fear or any other reasonable excuse, let him be subjected to the penalties of the canons. While the council is considering the canons or matters that concern the Gospel, the assembled bishops ought, with all attention and serious thought, to guard the divine and life-giving commandments of God. For in keeping them there is great reward; because the commandment is our lamp, and the law is our light, and trial and discipline are the way of life, and the commandment of the Lord, shining far, gives light to the eyes. A metropolitan is not allowed to demand any of the things the bishops bring with them, whether a horse or any other gift. If he is convicted of doing anything of this kind, he shall pay back four times as much. [a]

Canon 7. That where churches have been consecrated without any relics of the saints placed in them, the lack is to be made good.

Paul the divine apostle says, “The sins of some people are plain to see beforehand, and the sins of others follow after.” These are their first sins, and other sins follow them. So it was that, on the heels of the heresy of the slanderers of the Christians, other ungodliness followed close behind. For just as they took the presence of the venerable images out of the churches, so too they threw aside other customs, which we must now revive and maintain according to the written and unwritten law. We decree, therefore, that relics are to be placed, with the customary service, in all the sacred churches that have been consecrated without relics of the martyrs. And if any bishop from now on is found consecrating a church without holy relics, he is to be deposed, as one who has broken the traditions of the church. [d]

Canon 8. That Hebrews are not to be received unless they have been converted with a sincere heart. [f]

Certain people, going astray in the superstitions of the Hebrews, have thought to mock Christ our God. They pretend to be converted to the religion of Christ, yet they deny him, and privately and in secret they keep the Sabbath and observe other Jewish customs. We decree that such people are not to be received to communion, nor to the prayers, nor into the church. Let them be Hebrews openly, according to their own religion; and they are not to bring their children to baptism, nor to buy or own a slave. But if any of them is converted from a sincere heart and in faith, and makes his profession with his whole heart, rejecting their customs and observances, and in such a way that others may be convinced and converted, he is to be received and baptized, and his children likewise; and they are to be taught to take care to keep away from the practices of the Hebrews. But if they will not do this, they are by no means to be received.

Canon 9. That none of the books containing the heresy of the slanderers of the Christians are to be hidden. [g]

All the childish inventions and mad ravings that have been falsely written against the venerable images must be handed over to the bishop’s residence in Constantinople, so that they may be locked away with the other heretical books. And if anyone is found hiding such books, if he is a bishop, a presbyter or a deacon, let him be deposed; if he is a monk or a layman, let him be anathema. [h]

Canon 10. That no cleric is to leave his own diocese and go into another without the knowledge of his bishop.

Some of the clergy, misreading what the canons have laid down, leave their own diocese and run off into other dioceses, especially into this God-protected imperial city. There they take up residence with men in power and celebrate the liturgy in their private chapels. It is not allowed to receive such people into any house or church without the permission of their own bishop and of the bishop of Constantinople as well. And if any cleric does this without such permission and keeps on doing it, let him be deposed. As for those who have done this with the knowledge of the bishops just named, they are not allowed to take on worldly and secular responsibilities, since this is forbidden by the sacred canons. And if anyone is found holding the office of those called Meizoteroi, let him either give it up or be deposed from the priesthood. Let him rather be the teacher of the children and the others of the household, reading the divine Scriptures to them; for that is why he received the priesthood. [i]

Canon 11. That there are to be stewards in the bishops’ residences and in the monasteries.

Since we are bound to guard all the divine canons, we must by every means keep whole the one that says there are to be stewards in each church. If the metropolitan appoints a steward in his church, he does well; but if he does not, the bishop of Constantinople is allowed, on his own authority, to choose a steward for the metropolitan’s church. The metropolitans have the same authority if the bishops under them are unwilling to appoint stewards in their churches. The same rule is also to be kept for monasteries. [k]

Canon 12. That a bishop or an abbot is not to dispose of any part of the church’s country estates. [l]

If a bishop or an abbot is found handing over any part of the farmlands of the bishopric or the monastery into the hands of secular rulers, or surrendering it to any other person, the act is void, according to the canon of the holy apostles that says: “Let the bishop take care of all the church’s goods, and let him manage them as in the sight of God.” He is not allowed to take any part of them for himself, or to give his relatives the things that belong to God. If they are poor, let them be helped along with the poor; but they are not to be made a pretext for smuggling away the church’s property. And if it is argued that the land is only a loss and brings in no profit, the place is still not to be given to the secular rulers of the neighborhood, but to clergy or to farmers. And if they have used dishonest cunning, so that the ruler has bought the land from the farmer or the cleric, that sale too shall be void, and the land shall be returned to the bishopric or the monastery. And the bishop or abbot who does this is to be put out, the bishop from his bishopric and the abbot from his monastery, as men who have squandered what they did not gather. [m]

Canon 13. That those who turn the monasteries into public inns deserve special condemnation.

During the disaster that came on the churches because of our sins, some of the sacred houses, such as bishops’ residences and monasteries, were seized by certain men and became public inns. If those who now hold them choose to give them back, so that they may be restored to their original use, well and good. But if not, we command that they be deposed if they are on the roll of the priesthood, and excommunicated if they are monks or laymen, as people condemned by the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and assigned their place where the worm does not die and the fire is not put out. For they set themselves against the voice of the Lord, which says, “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” [n]

Canon 14. That no one who has not been ordained is to read from the ambo during the synaxis. [p]

It is plain to everyone that a certain order has been established in the priesthood, and to guard carefully the promotions within the priesthood is pleasing to God. Now we see certain young men who have received the clerical tonsure but have not yet been ordained by the bishop reading from the ambo during the synaxis, and in doing so breaking the canons. We forbid this to be done from now on, and this prohibition is to be kept among the monks as well. Each abbot is allowed to ordain a reader in his own monastery, provided he himself received the laying on of hands from a bishop for the office of abbot and is known to be a presbyter. Country bishops may likewise, by ancient custom and with the bishop’s authorization, appoint readers. [q]

Canon 15. That a cleric is not to be placed over two churches.

From now on no cleric shall be appointed over two churches, for this smacks of trade and shameful gain, and is wholly foreign to the custom of the church. We have heard from the very voice of the Lord that “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.” So each one, as the apostle says, ought to remain in the calling in which he was called, and serve in one church only. For in the affairs of the church, whatever comes through shameful gain is wholly cut off from God. To meet the needs of this life there are various occupations, and by means of them, if he wishes, let a man get what the body needs. For the apostle says, “These hands have served my needs and those who were with me.” Work of this kind can be found in the God-protected city. But in the country places outside it, because there are few people, an exception is to be allowed. [r]