The Canonical Letter of Gregory the Wonderworker

Canon 1. Those who have been taken captive by the barbarians and have eaten with them are not to be treated as people who have eaten things offered to idols, especially since it is reported everywhere that the barbarians do not sacrifice to idols. Nor are the women who were raped by them to be treated as guilty of fornication, unless they had lived immoral lives before. [a]

Canon 2. Those Christians who plundered their brothers during the invasion are to be excommunicated, so that wrath may not come upon the people, and especially upon the presidents, who do not look into these matters. Canons 3, 4 and 5. The excuse that they found those goods, or that they themselves lost things of equal value, will not help them at all; they are to be shut out from the prayers. [c] Canon 6. As for those who hold as prisoners people who had escaped from the barbarians, the holy man expects such people to be thunderstruck, and so he asks that an inquiry be made on the spot by men sent for this purpose. [e]

Canon 7. Those who joined the barbarians in their murders and plundering, or acted as guides or informers for them, are not to be allowed to be hearers until holy men, meeting together, agree in common on what seems good, first to the Holy Spirit and then to themselves. [f] Canon 8. But if they make themselves known and make restitution, they are to be admitted as kneelers. Canon 9. Those who are convicted of having found anything belonging to their neighbors that the barbarians left behind, even in their own houses, are also to be kneelers. But if they confess it themselves, they are to share in the prayers. Canon 10. This last privilege is limited to those who ask nothing as a reward for disclosing the goods and saving them, nor on any other pretext whatever.

Canon 11. The place of the mourners is outside the gate of the house of prayer. The place of the hearers is inside the house of prayer, in the porch, with the catechumens. The place of the kneelers is inside the door of the main hall. The place of the co-standers is among the communicants. The last stage is sharing in the holy mysteries. [g]