Gregory of Nyssa’s Canonical Letter to Letoius

Canon 1. At Easter, not only those who are transformed by the grace of the washing, that is, baptism, but also those who are penitents and have turned back, are to be brought to God, that is, to communion. For Easter is the catholic feast in which there is a resurrection from the fall of sin. [a] Canon 2. Those who fall away without any force, so as to deny Christ, or who by choice become Jews, idolaters, Manichaeans or unbelievers of any kind, are not to be admitted to communion until the hour of death. If they happen to recover beyond all expectation, they are to return to their penance. But those who were forced by torture are to do the penance for fornication. [c] Canon 3. If those who run to conjurers or diviners do so out of unbelief, they are to be treated as those who fall away willingly. But if they do it through lack of sense, and through an empty hope of relief in their troubles, they are to be treated as those who fall away under the violence of torture.

Canon 4. Fornicators are to be shut out entirely from the prayers for three years, to be hearers for three years and kneelers for three years, and then to be admitted to communion. But the time of hearing and of kneeling may be shortened for those who confess of their own accord and are earnest penitents. This time is to be doubled in cases of adultery and unlawful lusts, but with discretion. [d] Canon 5. Willful murderers are to be shut out of the church for nine years, to be hearers for nine years and kneelers for nine years; but each of these nine years may be reduced to seven or six, or even five, if the penitents are very diligent. Those who kill unintentionally are to be treated as fornicators, but still with discretion, and they may be given communion on their deathbed, on condition that they return to penance if they survive.

Canon 6. The fathers have been too lenient toward the idolatry of the greedy, in condemning to penance only robbery, the digging up of graves and sacrilege; whereas lending at interest and extortion, even under the cover of a contract, are forbidden by Scripture. Highwaymen who return to the church are to be treated as murderers. Those who steal in secret and then confess their sin to the priest are required only to amend their ways and to give generously to the poor; and if they have nothing, to work and give away their earnings. [e] Canon 7. Those who dig into graves and rake through the ashes and bones of the dead to find some valuable thing buried with the body are to do the penance of fornicators. This does not apply to those who only take some stones belonging to a tomb to use in building. Canon 8. He observes that under the law of Moses sacrilege was punished as murder, and that the guilty person was stoned to death; and he thinks the fathers too lenient in setting a shorter penance for sacrilege than for adultery. [f]