Canons 36–46

Canon 36. Renewing the decrees of the hundred and fifty fathers who assembled in the imperial city protected by God, and of the six hundred and thirty who met at Chalcedon, we decree that the see of Constantinople is to have equal privileges with the see of Old Rome, and is to be highly regarded in church matters as that see is, and is to be second after it. After Constantinople is to rank the see of Alexandria, then that of Antioch, and after these the see of Jerusalem. [a]

Canon 37. At various times there have been invasions of barbarians, and as a result a great many cities have been brought under the unbelievers. So the bishop of a city may not be able, after his ordination, to take possession of his see and be settled in it in priestly order, and so carry out and manage for it the ordinations and everything that by custom belongs to a bishop. We, keeping honor and reverence for the priesthood, and by no means wishing to use the injury done by the pagans to the ruin of the church’s rights, have decreed this: those ordained in this way, who for this reason have not been settled in their sees, are to be kept in good standing without any prejudice from this. They may canonically ordain the various clerics and use the authority of their office within its fixed limits, and whatever administration comes from them is to be valid and lawful. For the exercise of his office is not to be limited by a time of necessity, when the strict observance of law is limited. [b]

Canon 38. We also keep the canon made by the fathers, which decreed this: if any city is rebuilt by imperial authority, or has been rebuilt, the order of church affairs is to follow the civil and public pattern. [c]

Canon 39. Our brother and fellow worker John, bishop of the island of Cyprus, together with his people, has moved from that island to the province of the Hellespont, both because of barbarian raids and so that they may be freed from slavery to the pagans and be subject only to the scepters of a most Christian rule. This was by the providence of God, who loves humankind, and the labor of our Christ-loving and pious empress. We therefore determine that the privileges granted by the divine fathers who first assembled at Ephesus are to be kept without any innovation, namely: that New Justinianopolis is to have the rights of Constantinople, and whoever is made its pious and most religious bishop is to take precedence over all the bishops of the province of the Hellespont, and is to be elected by his own bishops according to ancient custom. For our divine fathers also took pains that the customs in force in each church should be kept. The bishop of the city of Cyzicus is to be subject to the metropolitan of this Justinianopolis, after the example of all the other bishops under John, the God-beloved metropolitan named above, by whom, as custom requires, even the bishop of the city of Cyzicus himself is to be ordained. [d]

Canon 40. Since it is very beneficial to cling to God by withdrawing from the noise and turmoil of life, we must not admit those who choose the monastic life before the proper time and without examination. Regarding them we must keep the limit handed down by our fathers, so that we may accept their profession of the life according to God as firm forever, the fruit of knowledge and judgment, made once they have reached the age of discretion. Therefore whoever is about to take on the yoke of the monastic life should be no less than ten years old. The examination of the matter rests with the decision of the bishop, who judges whether a longer time would better serve the person’s entrance into the monastic life and his settling in it. For the great Basil, in his holy canons, decreed that a woman who willingly offers herself to God and takes up virginity is to be entered in the order of virgins once she has completed her seventeenth year. Even so, we have followed the example set for widows and deaconesses, weighing the analogy and proportion between them, and have admitted those who choose the monastic life at the age we have named. For it is written in the divine Apostle that a widow is to be chosen in the church at sixty years of age; but the sacred canons decreed that a deaconess is to be ordained at forty, since they saw that the church, by divine grace, had gone forward stronger and more robust and was advancing still further, and they saw how firm and steady the faithful were in keeping the divine commandments. So we too, understanding the matter quite rightly, grant the blessing of grace early to the one who is about to enter the contest according to God, as though quickly setting a kind of seal on him. In this way we bring him into a life he ought not to hesitate over for long or turn down; or rather, we urge him on to choose the good and to make it his settled resolve. [f]

Canon 41. There are those in towns or in villages who wish to withdraw into enclosures and look after their souls apart from others. Before they enter a monastery and practice the life of a recluse, they should for three years, in the fear of God, submit to the superior of the house and obey in all things, as is right. In this way they will show that they have chosen this life and that they embrace it willingly and with their whole heart. Then they are to be examined by the superior of the place, and then they are to endure bravely one more year outside the enclosure, so that their purpose may be fully shown. For by this they will show fully and perfectly that they are not chasing after empty glory, but are pursuing the life of solitude for its own beauty and honor. When this time is completed, if they hold to the same intention in their choice of life, they are to be enclosed. From then on they may no longer leave such a dwelling whenever they want, unless they are led to do so for the common good, or some other pressing necessity drives them to it under threat of death; and then only with the blessing of the bishop of that place. [i]

Those who leave their enclosures without the reasons we have named are first of all to be shut up in that same enclosure even against their will, and then to cure themselves with fasting and other hardships, knowing that it is written, “No one who has put his hand to the plow and looked back is fit for the kingdom of heaven.” [j]

Canon 42. There are those called hermits, who wear black robes and long hair and go around the cities, mixing with worldly people, both men and women, and so bringing their profession into disrepute. We decree that if they will take the habit of the other monks and wear their hair cut short, they may be shut up in a monastery and counted among the brothers. But if they do not choose to do this, they are to be driven out of the cities and made to live in the deserts, from which they also take their name. [k]

Canon 43. Every Christian may choose the life of religious discipline, set aside the stormy upheavals of the affairs of this life, enter a monastery and receive the monk’s tonsure, no matter what faults he may have committed before. For God our Savior says, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” [l]

Since, then, the monastic way of life engraves on us, as on a tablet, the life of repentance, we receive whoever comes to it sincerely, and no custom is to be allowed to hinder him from carrying out his intention.

Canon 44. A monk who is convicted of fornication, or who takes a wife to share married life and companionship with her, is to be subjected to the penalties for fornicators, according to the canons. [m]

Canon 45. We understand that in some monasteries of women, those who are about to be clothed with the sacred habit are first dressed up by those who bring them there in silks and garments of every kind, and with gold and jewels as well. In this state they come up to the altar, and there they are stripped of all that display of wealth; immediately afterward the blessing of their habit takes place, and they are clothed in the black robe. We decree that from now on this is not to be done. For a woman who has already, of her own free will, put away every delight of life, has embraced the way of life that is according to God, has confirmed it with strong and steady reasons, and so has come to the monastery, may not call back to mind the things she had already forgotten, the things of this world that perishes and passes away. For in this way they raise doubts in themselves and are disturbed in their souls, like tossing waves, turned this way and that. Nor should they show heaviness of heart in their bodies by weeping. But if a few tears fall from their eyes, as may well happen, those who see them may suppose that they flowed from their love for the ascetic struggle rather than because they are leaving the world and the things of the world. [n]

Canon 46. Women who choose the ascetic life and are settled in monasteries may by no means go out of them. If, however, some unavoidable necessity compels them, let them go out with the blessing and permission of the mother superior. Even then they must not go out alone, but with some of the older women who are respected in the monastery, and at the superior’s command. And they are not permitted at all to stay on outside. [o] Men who follow the monastic life also may go out when there is urgent need, with the blessing of the one entrusted with governing them. Therefore those who break what we have now decreed, whether men or women, are to be subjected to suitable punishments.