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The Canons of the Holy and Blessed Fathers Who Assembled at
Neocæsarea
(The Paris edition of Zonaras adds):
Which are Indeed Later in Date Than Those Made at
Ancyra,
But More Ancient Than the
Nicene:
However, the Synod of Nice Has Been Placed Before
Them on Account of Its Peculiar Dignity
Canon I.
If a presbyter marry, let him be removed from his order;
but if he commit fornication or adultery, let
him be altogether cast out [i.e. of communion]
and put to penance.
Ancient Epitome of Canon I:
If a presbyter marries he shall be deposed from his order.
If he commits adultery or whoredom he
shall be expelled, and shall be put to penance.
Aristenus:
A presbyter who marries is removed from the exercise of
the priesthood but retains his honour and
seat. But he that commits fornication or adultery is
cast forth altogether and put to penance.
Canon II.
If a woman shall have married two brothers,
[Balsamon's Greek text adds:"if she will
not be persuaded to loose the marriage"],
let her be
cast out [i.e. of communion] until her death.
Nevertheless, at the hour of death she may, as an
act of mercy, be received to penance, provided
she declare that she will break the marriage, should
she recover. But if the woman in such a
marriage, or the man, die, penance for the survivor
shall be very difficult.
Ancient Epitome of Canon II:
A woman married to two brothers shall be expelled all her
life. But if when near her death she
promises that she will loose the marriage should she recover,
she shall be admitted to penance. But
if one of those coupled together die, only with great difficulty
shall penitence be allowed to the one
still living.
Canon III.
Concerning those who fall into many marriages,
the appointed time of penance is well known; but
their manner of living and faith shortens the time.
Zonaras: Before this synod no canon is found which
prescribes the duration of the penance of
bigamists [i.e. digamists].
St. Basil (in Epist. ad Amphilogium, Can. 4)
in speaking of the penance of trigamists:
We have received this by custom and not by canon, but
from the following of precedent.
Canon IV.
If any man lusting after a woman purposes
to lie with her, and his design does not come to effect, it
is evident that he has been saved by grace.
Balsamon:
In sins, the Fathers say, there are four stages:
the first motion, the struggle, the consent, and the act.
The first two of these are not subject to punishment, but
in the two others the case is different. For
neither is the first impression nor the struggle against it
to be condemned, provided that when the
reason receives the impression it struggles with it and
rejects the thought. But the consent thereto is
subject to condemnation and accusation, and the
action to punishment. If therefore anyone is
assailed by the lust for a woman, and is overcome so that
he would perform the act with her, he has
given consent, indeed, but to the work he has not
come, that is, he has not performed the act, and it
is manifest that the grace of God has preserved him;
but he shall not go off with impunity. For the
consent alone is worthy of punishment.
And this is plain from canon lxx. of St. Basil, which says, "A
deacon polluted in lips (en cheilesi)" or who has
approached to the kiss of a woman "and confesses
that he has so sinned, is to be interdicted his ministry,"
that is to say is to be prohibited its exercise
for a time. "But he shall not be deemed unworthy to
communicate in sacris with the deacons. The
same is also the case with a presbyter. But if anyone
shall go any further in sin than this, no matter
what his grade, he shall be deposed." Some, however,
interpret the pollution of the lips in another
way; of this I shall speak in commenting on
Canon lxx. of St. Basil.
Canon V.
If a catechumen coming into the Church have taken
his place in the order of catechumens, and fall
into sin, let him, if a kneeler, become a hearer and
sin no more. But should he again sin while a
hearer, let him be cast out.
Ancient Epitome of Canon V:
If a catechumen falls into a fault
and if while a kneeler he sins no more, let
him be among the
hearers; but should he sin while among the hearers,
let him be cast out altogether.
Zonaras:
There are two sorts of catechumens.
For some have only just come in and these, as still imperfect,
go out immediately after the reading of the scriptures and
of the Gospels. But there are others who
have been for some time in preparation and have attained
some perfection; these wait after the
Gospel for the prayers for the catechumens, and when
they hear the words "Catechumens, bow
down your heads to the Lord," they kneel down.
These, as being more perfect, having tasted the
good words of God, if they fall, are removed from
their position; and are placed with the "hearers";
but if any happen to sin while "hearers" they are
cast out of the Church altogether.
Canon VI.
Concerning a woman with child, it is determined that she
ought to be baptized whensoever she will;
for in this the woman communicates nothing to the
child, since the bringing forward to profession is
evidently the individual [privilege] of every single person.
Ancient Epitome of Canon VI:
If a woman with child so desires, let her be baptized.
For the choice of each one is judged of.
Canon VII.
A Presbyter shall not be a guest at the nuptials
of persons contracting a second marriage; for, since
the digamist is worthy of penance, what kind
of a presbyter shall he be, who, by being present at the
feast, sanctioned the marriage?
Zonaras:
Digamists are not allowed
for one year to receive the Holy Gifts...
Although this is found in our writings, yet we ourselves
have seen the Patriarch and many
Metropolitans present at the feast for the second
nuptials of the Emperor.
Canon VIII.
If the wife of a layman has committed adultery
and been clearly convicted, such [a husband] cannot
enter the ministry; and if she commit adultery after his
ordination, he must put her away; but if he
retain her, he can have no part in the ministry
committed to him.
Ancient Epitome of Canon VIII:
A layman whose wife is an adulteress cannot be a
clergyman, and a cleric who keeps an adulteress
shall be expelled.
Canon IX.
A Presbyter who has been promoted after having
committed carnal sin, and who shall confess that
he had sinned before his ordination, shall not make
the oblation, though he may remain in his other
functions on account of his zeal in other respects;
for the majority have affirmed that ordination blots
out other kinds of sins. But if he do not confess and
cannot be openly convicted, the decision shall
depend upon himself.
Ancient Epitome of Canon IX:
If a presbyter confess that he has sinned, let him abstain
from the oblation, and from it only. For
certain sins orders remit. If he neither confess nor is
convicted, let him have power over himself.
Canon X.
Likewise, if a deacon have fallen into the same sin,
let him have the rank of a minister [hyperetes].
Ancient Epitome of Canon X:
A deacon found in the same crime shall remain a minister.
Canon XI.
Let not a presbyter be ordained before he is thirty years of age,
even though he be in all respects a
worthy man, but let him be made to wait. For our
Lord Jesus Christ was baptized and began to
teach in his thirtieth year.
Ancient Epitome of Canon XI:
Unless he be xxx. years of age none shall be
presbyter, even should he be worthy, following the
example of the baptism of our Saviour.
Pope St. Zacharias of Rome in his Letter to
St. Boniface the Bishop, number vi:
In case of necessity presbyters may be ordained
at xxv. years of age.
Canon XII.
If any one be baptized when he is ill,
forasmuch as his [profession of] faith was
not voluntary, but of
necessity [i.e. though fear of death] he cannot be
promoted to the presbyterate, unless on account
of his subsequent [display of] zeal and faith, and
because of a lack of men.
Aristenus:
He that is baptised by reason of illness, and,
therefore come to his illumination not freely but of
necessity, shall not be admitted to the priesthood
unless both these conditions concur, that there are
few suitable men to be found and that he has endured
a hard conflict after his baptism.
Balsamon: If one of
these conditions is lacking, the canon must be observed.
Zonaras explains that the reason for this prohibition was the
well-known fact that in those ages
baptism was put off so as the longer to be free from the
restraints which baptism was considered to
impose.
Canon XIII.
Country presbyters may not make the oblation in
the church of the city when the bishop or
presbyters of the city are present; nor may they
give the Bread or the Cup with prayer. If, however,
they be absent, and he [i.e., a country presbyter]
alone be called to prayer, he may give them.
Ancient Epitome of Canons XIII. and XIV:
A country presbyter shall not offer in the city temple,
unless the bishop and the whole body of the
presbyters are away. But if wanted he can do
so while they are away.
The chorepiscopi can offer as fellow ministers, as they hold
the place of the Seventy.
Dionysius Exiguus and Isidore
read the last clause in the plural.
In many
mss. this canon is united with the following and the whole number given as
14.
Canon XIV.
The chorepiscopi, however, are indeed after the pattern
of the Seventy; and as fellow-servants, on
account of their devotion to the poor, they have the
honour of making the oblation.
Ancient Epitome of Canon XIV:
[Vide ante, as in many mss. the two canons are united in the Ancient
Epitome.]
Canon XV.
The deacons ought to be seven in number, according to
the canon, even if the city be great. Of this
you will be persuaded from the Book of the Acts.
This canon was observed in Rome and it was not
until the xith century that the number of the
Seven Cardinal Deacons was changed to fourteen.
That Gratian received it into the
Decretum (Pars. I., Dist. XCIII., c. xij.) is good
evidence that he considered it part of the Roman
discipline. Eusebius gives
a letter of Pope Cornelius, written about the
middle of the third century,
which says that at that time there were at Rome
forty-four priests, seven deacons, and seven
subdeacons; and that the number of those in
inferior orders was very great.
In the acts of the Council of Chalcedon, Actio
10, it is noted that the
Church of Edessa had fifteen priests and
thirty-eight deacons. And Justinian, we know,
appointed one hundred deacons for the Church of
Constantinople.
Council in Trullo, Canon 16:
Since the book of the Acts tells us that seven deacons
were appointed by the Apostles, and the
synod of Neocæsarea in the canons which it
put forth determined that there ought to be canonically
only seven deacons, even if the city be very large,
in accordance with the book of the Acts; we,
having fitted the mind of the fathers to the
Apostles' words, find that they spoke
not of those men
who ministered at the Mysteries but in the
administration which pertains to the serving of tables.
APPENDIX: FROM CANON 2 OF THE
COUNCIL "IN TRULLO": Declaring these Canons
to be a part of Orthodox canon law.
"But we set our seal likewise upon all the other holy canons set
forth by our holy and blessed Fathers, that is, by the 318 holy
God-bearing Fathers assembled at
Nice, and those at Ancyra, further those at
Neocæsarea and likewise those at Gangra, and
besides, those at Antioch in Syria ..."
Have mercy, O Lord, upon Thy servant
the translator Henry and on Daniel.