Canons 65–82

Canon 65. The fires that some people light at the new moons in front of their shops and houses, and over which, by a certain ancient custom, they foolishly and crazily leap, we order to cease from now on. Therefore whoever does such a thing, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be cut off. For it is written in the Fourth Book of Kings: “And Manasseh built an altar to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the Lord, and made his sons pass through the fire. He used lots and omens and divination by birds, and appointed mediums, and multiplied diviners, to do evil before the Lord and provoke him to anger.” [a]

Canon 66. From the holy day of the resurrection of Christ our God until the following Lord’s day, for a whole week, the faithful ought to be free from work and be in the holy churches, rejoicing in Christ with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, celebrating the feast, giving their minds to the reading of the holy Scriptures, and delighting in the holy mysteries. For in this way we will be lifted up with Christ and raised up together with him. Therefore on those days there must be no horse races or any other public show. [b]

Canon 67. The divine Scripture commands us to abstain from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. Those, therefore, who for the sake of a dainty appetite prepare the blood of any animal by some art for food, and so eat it, we punish suitably. If anyone from now on ventures to eat the blood of an animal in any way, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be cut off. [c]

Canon 68. No one may spoil or cut up a book of the Old or New Testament, or of our holy and approved preachers and teachers, or hand such books over to the book dealers or to those called perfumers, or give them up for destruction to any others of that kind, unless, of course, the book has been made useless by bookworms, or by water, or in some other way. Whoever from now on is seen doing such a thing is to be cut off for one year. Likewise, whoever buys such books, unless he keeps them for his own use or gives them to another for his benefit to be kept, and has tried to spoil them, let him be cut off. [d]

Canon 69. No layman is permitted to enter the sanctuary. Yet by a certain ancient tradition, the imperial power and authority is by no means forbidden to do so when the emperor wishes to offer his gifts to the Creator. [e]

Canon 70. Women are not permitted to speak during the divine liturgy, but, according to the word of Paul the Apostle, “let them be silent. For they are not permitted to speak, but are to be in submission, as the law also says. And if they want to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home.” [f]

Canon 71. Those who are being taught the civil laws must not take up the customs of the pagans. They must not be drawn into going to the theater, or keep what are called the Cylestras, or wear clothing contrary to common custom. This holds good when they begin their training, when they reach its end, and in short for the whole time it lasts. If anyone from now on dares to act against this canon, he is to be cut off. [g]

Canon 72. An orthodox man is not permitted to marry a heretical woman, nor an orthodox woman to be joined to a heretical man. If anything of this kind is found to have been done by anyone, we require them to consider the marriage null, and the marriage is to be dissolved. For it is not fitting to mix together what should not be mixed, nor is it right for the sheep to be joined with the wolf, or the lot of sinners with the portion of Christ. If anyone breaks what we have decreed, let him be cut off. But suppose some who until now were unbelievers, and not yet counted in the flock of the orthodox, have contracted a lawful marriage with each other. If then one of them chooses the right and comes to the light of truth, while the other is still held by the bond of error and is unwilling to look with steady eyes on the divine rays, and the unbelieving wife is content to live with the believing husband, or the unbelieving husband with the believing wife, let them not be separated, according to the divine Apostle: “For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife by her husband.” [h]

Canon 73. Since the life-giving cross has shown us salvation, we ought to take care to give due honor to that by which we were saved from the ancient fall. So, giving it veneration in mind, in word and in feeling, we command that the figure of the cross, which some have placed on the floor, be entirely removed from there, so that the trophy of the victory won for us may not be desecrated by the trampling of those who walk over it. Therefore we decree that those who from now on represent the sign of the cross on the pavement are to be cut off. [i]

Canon 74. It is not permitted to hold what are called agapes, that is, love feasts, in the Lord’s houses or churches, or to eat inside the house, or to spread couches there. If any dare to do so, let them stop or be cut off. [j]

Canon 75. We want those whose duty it is to sing in the churches not to use undisciplined shouting, or force their voices to a loud cry, or take up any style that is unsuitable and out of place in the church. Rather, they are to offer the psalms to God, who sees what is hidden, with great attention and heartfelt sorrow. For the sacred word taught that the sons of Israel were to be reverent. [k]

Canon 76. Those who are responsible for the reverence due to churches must not set up an eating place within the sacred bounds, nor serve food there, nor carry on any other trade. For God our Savior, teaching us while he lived among us in the flesh, commanded us not to make his Father’s house a house of trade. He also poured out the small coins of the money changers and drove out all who were making the temple common. If, therefore, anyone is caught in this fault, let him be cut off. [l]

Canon 77. Those who are dedicated to religion, whether clerics or ascetics, must not wash in the bath together with women, and neither should any Christian man or layman. For this is severely condemned by the pagans. If anyone is caught at this, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be cut off. [m]

Canon 78. Those who are being illuminated ought to learn the creed by heart and recite it to the bishop or the presbyters on the fifth day of the week. [n]

Canon 79. We confess that the Virgin’s divine childbearing was without any lying-in, since it came to pass without seed, and we preach this to the whole flock. So we subject to correction those who out of ignorance do anything at odds with it. Some people are seen on the day after the holy Nativity of Christ our God cooking cakes of fine flour and giving them to one another, on the pretext of honoring the childbed of the spotless Virgin Mother. We decree that from now on nothing of the kind is to be done by the faithful. For it is no honor to the Virgin, who in a way beyond thought and speech bore in the flesh the Word whom nothing can contain, when we define and describe her inexpressible childbirth by ordinary things, by what happens among ourselves. If, therefore, anyone from now on is found doing any such thing, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be cut off. [o]

Canon 80. If any bishop, presbyter or deacon, or any of those counted on the list of the clergy, or a layman, has no very serious necessity or pressing business to keep him away from church for a long time, but while staying in the city does not go to church on three Sundays in a row, that is, for three weeks, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be cut off. [p]

Canon 81. We have heard that in some places, in the hymn of the Trisagion, after “Holy and Immortal,” these words are added: “who was crucified for us, have mercy on us.” This addition, as foreign to true religion, was cast out of the hymn by the ancient and holy fathers, just as the violent heretics who brought in these new words were cast out of the church. We too, confirming what was piously established before by our holy fathers, anathematize those who, after this present decree, allow this or any other addition to the most sacred hymn in church. If the one who has broken it belongs to the priestly order, we command that he be stripped of his priestly rank; if he is a layman or a monk, let him be cut off. [q]

Canon 82. In some paintings of the venerable icons, a lamb is shown, to which the Forerunner points with his finger. It was accepted as a figure of grace, showing beforehand through the law our true Lamb, Christ our God. So, while we welcome the ancient figures and shadows as symbols of the truth and patterns handed down to the church, we prefer “grace and truth,” receiving it as the fulfillment of the law. In order, then, that “what is perfect” may be set before the eyes of all, at least in painted form, we decree that from now on the figure of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, Christ our God, is to be shown in images in human form, instead of the ancient lamb. In this way all may understand by it the depths to which the Word of God humbled himself, and be led to remember his life in the flesh, his passion and saving death, and the redemption he won for the whole world. [r]