Canons 2–8

Canon 2. This holy council has also decided that the eighty-five canons received and ratified by the holy and blessed fathers before us, and handed down to us in the name of the holy and glorious apostles, are from now on to remain firm and unshaken, for the cure of souls and the healing of disorders. In these canons we are told to receive the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, written by Clement. But long ago, through the work of those who strayed from the faith, some corrupt material was brought into them, wholly contrary to piety, to pollute the church, and it obscures the elegance and beauty of the divine decrees as we now have them. So we reject these Constitutions, the better to make sure of the building up and safety of the most Christian flock. We by no means admit the offspring of heretical error, and we hold fast to the pure and perfect teaching of the apostles. [a]

But we likewise set our seal on all the other holy canons set forth by our holy and blessed fathers. These are the canons of the three hundred and eighteen holy God-bearing fathers assembled at Nicaea; of those at Ancyra; of those at Neocaesarea, and likewise those at Gangra; besides these, of those at Antioch in Syria, and of those at Laodicea in Phrygia; likewise of the hundred and fifty who assembled in this royal city protected by heaven; of the two hundred who assembled the first time in the metropolis of the Ephesians; and of the six hundred and thirty holy and blessed fathers at Chalcedon. In the same way we confirm the canons of those of Sardica and those of Carthage, and of those who assembled again in this royal city protected by heaven under its bishop Nectarius and under Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria. Likewise too we confirm the canons, that is, the decretal letters, of Dionysius, formerly archbishop of the great city of Alexandria; of Peter, archbishop of Alexandria and martyr; of Gregory the Wonderworker, bishop of Neocaesarea; of Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria; of Basil, archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia; of Gregory, bishop of Nyssa; of Gregory the Theologian; of Amphilochius of Iconium; of Timothy, archbishop of Alexandria; of Theophilus, archbishop of the same great city of Alexandria; of Cyril, archbishop of the same Alexandria; and of Gennadius, patriarch of this royal city protected by heaven. Moreover we confirm the canon set forth by Cyprian, archbishop of the country of the Africans and martyr, and by the synod under him, which has been kept only in the country of those bishops, according to the custom handed down to them.

And no one is to be allowed to break or disregard these canons, or to receive others besides them, falsely put forward by certain people who have tried to make a trade of the truth. But if anyone is convicted of making innovations in any of these canons, or of trying to overturn them, he is to receive the penalty that canon imposes, and be cured by it of his offense.

Canon 3. Our pious and Christian emperor has addressed this holy and ecumenical council, asking it to provide for the purity of those who are on the list of the clergy and who pass on divine things to others. He asked that they be blameless ministers, worthy of the sacrifice of the great God, who is both the offering and the high priest, a sacrifice grasped by the mind; and that the council cleanse away the stains with which unlawful marriages have branded them. Now those of the most holy Roman church intend to keep the rule of strict perfection, while those under the throne of this royal city protected by heaven keep the rule of kindness and consideration. So we blend both together, as our fathers did and as the love of God requires, so that gentleness may not fall into license nor severity into harshness, especially since the fault of ignorance has spread to no small number of men. [e]

We decree, then, that those who are involved in a second marriage, who have been slaves to sin up to the 15th of January just past, in the past fourth indiction, the year 6109, and who have not resolved to repent of it, are to be subjected to canonical deposition. But there are others who are involved in this disorder of a second marriage, but who before our decree acknowledged what was right, cut off their sin and put this strange and unlawful union far from them; or whose wives by the second marriage have already died; or who have turned to repentance of their own accord, having learned self-control and quickly forgotten their former wrongs. Whether these are presbyters or deacons, we have determined that they are to cease from every priestly ministry and function, being under punishment for a certain time. But they are to keep the honor of their seat and standing, being content with their seat in front of the laity and begging the Lord with tears to pardon the transgression of their ignorance. For it would be unfitting for a man who has to tend his own wounds to bless another.

But as for those who have been married to one wife who was a widow, and likewise those who after their ordination have unlawfully entered into one marriage, that is, presbyters, deacons and subdeacons: they are to be barred from sacred ministry for some short time and censured, and then restored to their proper rank, never to advance to any further rank, and their unlawful marriage is to be openly dissolved. We decree that this holds good only for those involved in these faults up to the 15th of January, as we said, of the fourth indiction. From the present time on we decree, and we renew the canon which declares, that a man who has been joined in two marriages after his baptism, or has had a concubine, cannot be a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or be on the priestly list at all. In the same way, a man who has taken a widow, or a divorced woman, or a prostitute, or a servant, or an actress, cannot be a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or be on the priestly list at all.

Canon 4. If any bishop, presbyter, deacon, subdeacon, reader, singer or doorkeeper has had intercourse with a woman dedicated to God, let him be deposed, as one who has corrupted a bride of Christ. If he is a layman, let him be cut off. [i]

Canon 5. None of those on the priestly list is to keep any woman or maidservant beyond those listed in the canon as persons free from suspicion, so that he may keep himself from being caught up in any blame. If anyone breaks our decree, let him be deposed. Eunuchs too are to keep the same rule, so that by their foresight they may be free of reproach. Those who break it are to be deposed if they are clerics; if they are laymen, let them be excommunicated. [j]

Canon 6. The apostolic canons declare that of those who enter the clergy unmarried, only readers and singers may marry. We also maintain this, and determine that from now on it is in no way lawful for any subdeacon, deacon or presbyter to marry after his ordination. If he dares to do so, let him be deposed. But if any of those who enter the clergy wishes to be joined to a wife in lawful marriage before he is ordained subdeacon, deacon or presbyter, let it be done. [k]

Canon 7. We have learned that in some churches deacons hold church offices, and that because of this some of them, with arrogance and license, boldly take their seats ahead of the presbyters. We have therefore determined that a deacon, even one in a position of dignity, that is, in whatever church office he may hold, is not to take his seat ahead of a presbyter. The exception is when he is acting as the representative of his own patriarch or metropolitan in another city, under another superior; for then he is to be honored as filling that man’s place. But if anyone, seized with a tyrant’s boldness, dares to do such a thing, let him be put out of his own rank and be the last of all in the order on whose list he stands in his own church. [l]

For our Lord warns us not to delight in taking the chief seats, according to the teaching found in the holy evangelist Luke, given by our Lord and God himself. He taught this parable to those who had been invited: “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding, do not sit down in the place of honor, in case someone more honorable than you has been invited by him, and he who invited you and him comes and says to you, ‘Give this man your place,’ and then with shame you begin to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, sit down in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The same is also to be observed in the other sacred orders, since we know that spiritual things are to be put ahead of worldly dignity.

Canon 8. Since we wish that what our holy fathers decreed should be established and confirmed in every point, we here renew the canon that orders synods of the bishops of each province to be held every year, wherever the bishop of the metropolis thinks best. But because of the raids of barbarians and certain other chance causes, those who preside over the churches cannot hold synods twice a year. So it seems right that by all means a synod of these bishops be held in every province once a year, because of the church questions likely to arise, between the holy feast of Easter and October, as was said above, in the place the metropolitan thinks most fitting. And bishops who do not attend, when they are at home in their own cities, in good health, and free of all unavoidable and necessary business, are to be rebuked as brothers. [n]