Canons 83–100

Canon 83. No one may give the eucharist to the bodies of the dead. For it is written, “Take and eat.” But the bodies of the dead can neither “take” nor “eat.” [a]

Canon 84. Following the canonical laws of the fathers, we decree this concerning infants: whenever there are found no reliable witnesses to say that they have undoubtedly been baptized, and whenever they themselves, because of their age, are unable to give a satisfactory answer about the mystery of initiation given to them, they ought to be baptized without any hesitation, so that such a doubt may not deprive them of the holiness of that cleansing. [b]

Canon 85. We have received from the Scriptures that every word is to be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. Therefore we decree that slaves who are set free by their masters in the presence of three witnesses are to enjoy that honor. For the witnesses, being present at the time, will add strength and firmness to the freedom given, and will make sure that good faith is kept in the things they now testify were done in their presence. [c]

Canon 86. Those who, to the ruin of their own souls, gather and keep prostitutes, if they are clerics, are to be cut off and deposed; if laymen, they are to be cut off. [d]

Canon 87. A woman who has left her husband is an adulteress if she has gone to another man, according to the holy and divine Basil, who drew this most excellently from the prophet Jeremiah: “If a woman has become another man’s, her husband shall not return to her, but being defiled she shall remain defiled.” And again: “He who keeps an adulteress is senseless and ungodly.” If, then, she is found to have left her husband without reason, he deserves pardon and she deserves punishment. And pardon will be given to him so that he may be in communion with the church. But a man who leaves the wife lawfully given to him and takes another is guilty of adultery, by the sentence of the Lord. And it has been decreed by our fathers that such men must be “mourners” for a year, “hearers” for two years, and “kneelers” for three years; in the seventh year they are to stand with the faithful, and so be counted worthy of the offering, if they do penance with tears. [e]

Canon 88. No one may bring any beast into a church, unless perhaps a traveler, driven by the greatest necessity and finding no shed or resting place, has turned aside into the church. For unless the beast had been brought inside, it would have died; and he, by losing his beast of burden and so having no way to continue his journey, would be in danger of death. And we are taught that the Sabbath was made for man, so the safety and comfort of man is by all means to be put first. But if anyone is caught leading his beast into a church without some such necessity as we have just described, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be cut off. [g]

Canon 89. The faithful, spending the days of the saving Passion in fasting, prayer and heartfelt sorrow, ought to fast until midnight of the Great Sabbath. For the divine Evangelists Matthew and Luke have shown us how late at night it was when the resurrection took place, the one by the words “late on the Sabbath,” and the other by the words “at deep dawn.” [h]

Canon 90. We have received from our divine fathers the canon law that, in honor of Christ’s resurrection, we are not to kneel on Sundays. So that we may not be ignorant of how fully this is to be kept, we make it plain to the faithful that after the priests have gone in to the altar for vespers on Saturday, according to the prevailing custom, no one is to kneel in prayer until the evening of Sunday. At that time, after the entrance at compline, we again offer our prayers to the Lord on bended knees. For we take the night after the Sabbath, which was the forerunner of our Lord’s resurrection, and from it we begin to sing hymns to God in the spirit, leading our feast out of darkness into light. And so for an entire day and night we celebrate the resurrection. [j]

Canon 91. Those who give drugs to cause abortion, and those who take poisons to kill the unborn child, are subjected to the penalty for murder. [k]

Canon 92. The holy synod decrees that those who carry off women under the name of marriage, and those who in any way help the abductors, if they are clerics, are to lose their rank; if laymen, they are to be anathematized. [l]

Canon 93. If the wife of a man who has gone away and not been heard from lives with another man before she is sure of the first one’s death, she is an adulteress. The same holds for the wives of soldiers who have married again when their husbands did not appear, and for those who do not wait for their husbands’ return when they are traveling far away. Yet here the circumstance has some excuse, since the suspicion that he is dead becomes very strong. But a woman who, in ignorance, has married a man who at the time was abandoned by his wife, and is then sent away because his first wife returns to him, has indeed committed fornication, but through ignorance. Therefore she is not barred from marriage, though it is better if she remains as she is. If a soldier returns after a long time and finds that, because of his long absence, his wife has been joined to another man, he may take his own wife back if he wishes. Pardon is granted, in view of their ignorance, both to her and to the man who took her home in a second marriage. [m]

Canon 94. The canon subjects to penalties those who take pagan oaths, and we decree excommunication for them. [n]

Canon 95. Those who come over from the heretics to orthodoxy, and to the number of those being saved, we receive according to the following order and custom. Arians, Macedonians, Novatians, who call themselves Cathari and Aristeri, Quartodecimans, or Tetradites, and Apollinarians, we receive when they hand in written statements and anathematize every heresy that does not hold as the holy apostolic church of God holds. Then first of all we anoint them with the holy chrism on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth and ears, and as we seal them we say, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [o]

But concerning the Paulianists, it has been determined by the catholic church that they are by all means to be baptized again. As for the Eunomians, who baptize with a single immersion; the Montanists, who here are called Phrygians; the Sabellians, who hold that the Son is the same as the Father and are guilty in certain other grave matters; and all the other heresies (for there are many heretics here, especially those who come from the region of the Galatians): all of these who wish to come over to the orthodox faith we receive as pagans. On the first day we make them Christians; on the second, catechumens; then on the third day we exorcise them, at the same time breathing three times on their faces and ears. And so we initiate them, and have them spend time in church and hear the Scriptures, and then we baptize them. [r]

And the Manichaeans, Valentinians, Marcionites and all those of similar heresies must hand in written statements and anathematize each his own heresy, and also Nestorius, Eutyches, Dioscorus, Severus and the other leaders of such heresies, and those who think as they do, and all the heresies named above. And so they become partakers of holy communion. [t]

Canon 96. Those who have put on Christ through baptism have professed that they will imitate the way of life he led in the flesh. Those, therefore, who adorn and arrange their hair to the harm of those who see them, that is, by cunningly devised braidings, and by this means set a bait for unstable souls, we undertake to cure in a fatherly way with a suitable punishment. We train them and teach them to live soberly, so that, laying aside the deceit and vanity of material things, they may give their minds constantly to a life that is blessed and free from harm, and live in fear, pure and holy. And so they may come as near to God as possible through purity of life, and adorn the inner man rather than the outer, and that with virtues and good and blameless ways, so that they leave in themselves no trace of the adversary’s crookedness. If anyone acts against this canon, let him be cut off. [u]

Canon 97. Those who sleep with their wives in sacred places, or who in any other way treat holy places as common, without regard for them, holding them in contempt and staying in them on those terms, we order all such to be expelled, even from the catechumens’ quarters that are in the venerable churches. If anyone does not keep these directions, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be cut off. [w]

Canon 98. A man who takes in marriage a woman who is engaged to another man who is still living is to be held guilty of adultery. [x]

Canon 99. We have also learned that in the regions of the Armenians some people boil joints of meat inside the sanctuary and offer portions to the priests, handing them out in the Jewish manner. So, in order to keep the church undefiled, we decree that no priest may seize separate portions of meat from those who offer them; the priests are to be content with whatever the one offering chooses to give them. We further decree that such offerings are to be made outside the church. If anyone does not do so, let him be cut off. [y]

Canon 100. “Let your eyes look at what is right,” Wisdom commands, “and guard your heart with all care.” For the bodily senses easily pass their own impressions into the soul. Therefore we order that from now on no pictures are to be made in any way, whether paintings or anything else, that attract the eye, corrupt the mind and inflame it with base pleasures. If anyone attempts to do this, he is to be cut off. [z]