INTRODUCTION
A recommendation to summon an ecumenical council, in order to correct
the iconoclast heretics, had been addressed to Empress Irene, then
acting as regent for her son Emperor Constantine VI (780-797) who was still a
minor, both by Patriarch Paul IV of Constantinople (who had repented of his
earlier iconoclast views) before his abdication from the see in 784 and by his
successor as patriarch, Tarasius. The aim was to unite the church and to
condemn the decrees passed by the council of 338 bishops held at Hiereia and St
Mary of Blachernae in 754.
The convocation of the council was announced to Pope Hadrian I (772-795)
in a letter of Constantine VI and Irene, dated 29 August 784. They urged him
either to attend in person or to send legates. Patriarch Tarasius sent the same
message in synodal letters to the pope and the three eastern patriarchs. Pope Hadrian
I gave his approval for the convocation of the council, stipulating various
conditions, and sent as his legates the archpriest Peter and Peter, abbot of
the Greek monastery of St Sabas in Rome.
The council, which was summoned by an imperial edict in the summer of
786, met for the first time on 1 August 786, in the presence of Emperor
Constantine and Empress Irene. When the proceedings were interrupted by the
violent entry of iconoclast soldiers, faithful to the memory of Emperor
Constantine V (741-775), the council was adjourned until the arrival of a
reliable army under Staurakios. It assembled again at Nicaea on 24 September
787, the papal legates having been recalled from Sicily.
After the bishops suspected of heresy had been admitted, 263 fathers embraced
the doctrine concerning the cult of sacred images as explained
in the letters of Pope Hadrian I, which were read out at the second session.
The question of the intercession of saints was dealt
with in the fourth session.
Once all these matters had been approved, a doctrinal
definition was decreed at the seventh session.
At the eighth and last session, which was held at the request of
Constantine and Irene in the Magnaura palace in Constantinople, the definition
was again decreed and proclaimed and 22 canons were read out. The papal legates presided
over the council and were the first to sign the acts; but in reality it was
Patriarch Tarasius who presided, and it was he, at the command of the council,
who informed Pope Hadrian I about it: "the occasion when the letters of
your fraternal holiness were read out and all acclaimed them".
Pope Hadrian I wrote no letter in reply, yet the defence he made of the council
in 794 against Charlemagne shows that he accepted what the council had
decreed, and that he had sent no acknowledgement because the concessions
which he had requested in his letter of 26 October 785 to Constantine and Irene
had not been granted to him, especially concerning the restoration of the
papacy's patrimony to the state at which it had been prior to 731, that is,
before Illyricum had been confiscated by the emperor Leo III. Emperor Constantine
VI and his mother Irene signed the acts of the council but it is unclear
whether or not they promulgated a decree on the matter.
The translation is from the Greek text, since this is the more
authoritative version. {Material in curly parentheses ,{ }, paragraphing,
italicizing and bolding, are added by the hypertext editor. The material in
square brackets [ ] is found in the hardcopy book from which the translation
was taken.}
Definition
The holy, great and universal synod, by the grace of God and by order of our
pious and Christ-loving emperor and empress, Constantine and his mother Irene, assembled
for the second time in the famous metropolis of the Nicaeans in the
province of the Bithynians, in the holy church of God named after Wisdom,
following the tradition of the catholic church, has decreed what is
here laid down.
{The council bases itself on the inspiration of Tradition & of
itself}
The one who granted us the light of recognizing him, the one who
redeemed us from the darkness of idolatrous insanity, Christ our God,
when he took for his bride his holy catholic church, having no blemish or
wrinkle, promised he would guard her and assured his holy disciples
saying, I am with you every day until the consummation of this age.
This promise however he made not only to them but also to us, who
thanks to them have come to believe in his name. To this gracious offer some
people paid no attention, being hoodwinked by the treacherous foe they
abandoned the true line of reasoning, and setting themselves against the
tradition of the catholic church they faltered in their grasp of the truth. As
the proverbial saying puts it, they turned askew the axles of their farm carts
and gathered no harvest in their hands. Indeed they had the effrontery to
criticise the beauty pleasing to God established in the holy monuments; they
were priests in name, but not in reality. They were those of whom God calls out
by prophecy, Many pastors have destroyed my vine, they have defiled my portion.
For they followed unholy men and trusting to their own frenzies they
calumniated the holy church, which Christ our God has espoused to himself, and
they failed to distinguish the holy from the profane, asserting that the icons
of our Lord and of his saints were no different from the wooden images of
satanic idols.
Therefore the Lord God, not bearing that what was subject to
him should be destroyed by such a corruption, has by his good
pleasure summoned us together through the divine diligence and
decision of Constantine and Irene, our faithful emperor and empress, we
who are those responsible for the priesthood everywhere, in order that
the divinely inspired tradition of the catholic church should receive
confirmation by a public decree. So having made investigation with all
accuracy and having taken counsel, setting for our aim the truth, we neitherdiminish nor augment,
but simply guard intact all that pertains to the catholic
church.
{Recapitulation and re-affirmation of everything taught by any previous
ecumenical council}
Thus, following the six holy universal synods, in the first place that
assembled in the famous metropolis of the Nicaeans {{1}Nicea I}, and
then that held after it in the imperial, God-guarded city: {i.e. {2}
Constantinople I} We believe in one God ...[the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed
follows]. We abominate and anathematize - Arius and those who
think like him and share in his mad error; also Macedonius and
those with him, properly called the Pneumatomachi; we also confess our
Lady, the holy Mary, to be really and truly the God-bearer, because she
gave birth in the flesh to Christ, one of the Trinity, our God, just as the
first synod at {3}Ephesus decreed; it also expelled from the church Nestorius and
those with him, because they were introducing a duality of persons. Along with
these synods, we also confess the two natures of the one who became incarnate
for our sake from the God-bearer without blemish, Mary the ever-virgin,
recognizing that he is perfect God and perfect man, as the synod at {4}Chalcedon
also proclaimed, when it drove from the divine precinct the foul-mouthed Eutyches and Dioscorus. We
reject along with them Severus Peter and their interconnected
band with their many blasphemies, in whose company we anathematize the mythical
speculations of Origen, Evagrius and Didymus, as
did the fifth synod, that assembled at {5}Constantinople. Further we
declare that there are two wills and principles of action, in accordance with
what is proper to each of the natures in Christ, in the way that the sixth
synod, that at {6}Constantinople, proclaimed, when it also publicly
rejectedSergius, Honorius, Cyrus, Pyrrhus, Macarius, those uninterested
in true holiness, and their likeminded followers.
To summarize, we declare that we defend free
from any innovations all the
* written and
* unwritten
ecclesiastical traditions that have been entrusted to us.
{Council formulates for the first time what the Church has always
believed regarding icons}
One of these is the production of representational art; this is quite in harmony with the history
of the spread of the gospel, as it provides confirmation that the becoming man
of the Word of God was real and not just imaginary, and as it brings us a
similar benefit. For, things that mutually illustrate one another undoubtedly
possess one another's message.
Given this state of affairs and stepping out as though on the royal
highway, following as we are
* the God-spoken teaching of our holy fathers
and
* the tradition of the catholic church --
* for we recognize that this tradition comes
from the holy Spirit who dwells in her--
we decree with full precision and care that,
* like the figure of the honoured and
life-giving cross,
* the revered and holy images,
* whether painted or
* made of mosaic
* or of other suitable material,
are to be exposed
* in the holy churches of God,
* on sacred instruments and vestments,
* on walls and panels,
* in houses and by public ways,
these are the images of
* our Lord, God and saviour, Jesus Christ, and of
* our Lady without blemish, the
holy God-bearer, and of
* the revered angels and of
* any of the saintly holy men.
The more frequently they are seen in representational art, the more are
those who see them drawn to remember and long for those who serve as models,
and to pay these images the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration.
Certainly this is not the full adoration {latria} in accordance with our faith,
which is properly paid only to the divine nature, but it resembles that given
to the figure of the honoured and life-giving cross, and also to the holy books
of the gospels and to other sacred cult objects. Further, people are drawn to
honour these images with the offering of incense and lights, as was piously
established by ancient custom. Indeed, the honour paid to an image
traverses it, reaching the model, and he who venerates the image, venerates
the person represented in that image.
* So it is that the teaching of
our holy fathers is strengthened, namely, the tradition of the catholic church
which has received the gospel from one end of the earth to the other.
* So it is that we really follow
Paul, who spoke in Christ, and the entire divine apostolic group and the
holiness of the fathers, clinging fast to the traditions which we have received.
* So it is that we sing out with
the prophets the hymns of victory to the church: Rejoice exceedingly O daughter
of Zion, proclaim O daughter of Jerusalem; enjoy your happiness and gladness
with a full heart. The Lord has removed away from you the injustices of your
enemies, you have been redeemed from the hand of your foes. The Lord the king
is in your midst, you will never more see evil, and peace will be upon you for
time eternal.
Therefore all those who dare to think or teach anything different,
or who follow the accursed heretics in rejecting ecclesiastical traditions, or
who devise innovations, or who spurn anything entrusted to the church (whether
it be the gospel or the figure of the cross or any example of representational
art or any martyr's holy relic), or who fabricate perverted and evil prejudices
against cherishing any of the lawful traditions of the catholic church, or who
secularize the sacred objects and saintly monasteries, we order that they be suspended if
they are bishops or clerics, and excommunicated if they are
Anathemas concerning holy images
- If anyone does not confess that
Christ our God can be represented in His humanity, let him be anathema.
- If anyone does not accept representation
in art of evangelical scenes, let him be anathema.
- If anyone does not salute such
representations as standing for the Lord and His saints, let him be anathema.
- If anyone rejects any written
or unwritten Tradition of the Church, let him be anathema.
CANONS
1
For those to whom the priestly dignity is allotted, the guide-lines
contained in the canonical regulations are testimonies and directives. We accept them gladly and sing out to
the Lord God with David, the revealer of God: In the path of your testimonies I
have taken delight, as with all manner of wealth; and, You have enjoined
justice, your testimonies are for ever; instruct me to give me life. And if the
prophetic voice orders us for all eternity to observe the messages of God and
to live in them, it is obvious that they remain unshakeable and immoveable;
thus Moses, who looked on God, declares, To these there is no addition, and
from these there is no subtraction. The divine apostle takes pride in them when
he cries out, These things which the angels long to gaze upon, and, If an angel
brings you a gospel contrary to what you have received, let him be accursed.
Since these things really are such and have been testified to us in
these ways, we exult in them as a person would if he were to come across a great
mass of booty. We joyfully embrace the sacred canons and we maintain complete
and unshaken their regulation, both those expounded by those trumpets of the
Spirit, the apostles worthy of all praise, and those from the six holy
universal synods and from the synods assembled locally for the promulgation of
such decrees, and from our holy fathers. Indeed all of these, enlightened
by one and the same Spirit, decreed what is expedient. In the case of those
whom they sent away under an anathema, we also anathematize them, those whom
they suspended, we also suspend; those whom they excommunicated, we also
excommunicate; those whom they placed under penalties, we also deal with in the
same way. Let your conduct be free from avariciousness, contenting
yourself with what you have, cried out with all explicitness the divine apostle
Paul, who mounted to the third heaven and heard words that cannot be uttered.
2
Since we make an undertaking before God as we sing, I shall meditate
on your judgments, I shall not neglect your words, it is essential to our
salvation that every Christian should observe these things,
but more especially those who have been invested with priestly
dignity. Therefore we decree that
* everyone who is to be advanced to the grade
of bishop should have a thorough knowledge of the psalter, in
order that he may instruct all the clergy subordinate to him, to be initiated
in that book.
* He should also be examined without fail by
the metropolitan to see if he is willing to acquire knowledge--a knowledge that
should be searching and not superficial--of the sacred canons, the holy gospel,
the book of the divine apostle, and all divine scripture;
* also if he is willing to conduct himself and
teach the people entrusted to him according to the divine commandments.
"The substance of our hierarchy are the words handed down from
God", that is to say, the true knowledge of the divine scriptures, as the
great Dionysius made plain. If someone is doubtful and ill at
ease with such conduct and teaching, let him not be ordained. For God said
through the prophet: You rejected knowledge, and I shall reject you, so that
you may not serve me in a priestly function.
3
Any election of a bishop, priest or deacon brought about by the rulers
is to be null and void in accordance with the canon that says: "If
any bishop, through the influence of secular rulers, acquires responsibility
for a church because of them, let him be suspended and let all those who are in
communion with him be excommunicated".
It is necessary that the person who is to be advanced to a bishopric
should be elected by bishops, as has been decreed by the holy fathers at Nicaea in
the canon that says: "It is by all means desirable that a bishop should be
appointed by all [the bishops] in the province. But if this is difficult
because of some pressing necessity or the length of the journey involved, let
at least three come together and perform the ordination, but only after the
absent bishops have taken part in the vote and given their written consent. But
in each province the right of confirming the proceedings belongs to the
metropolitan".
4
The herald of the truth, Paul, the divine apostle, laying down a sort of
rule for the presbyters of Ephesus, or rather for the whole priestly order,
declared firmly: I have not coveted silver or gold or anybody's clothing; I
have made completely plain to you that it is by working in this fashion that we
should provide for the weak being convinced that it is blessed to give.
Therefore we also, having been taught by him, decree that a
bishop should never have any sort of design on foul profit, inventing excuses
for his sins, nor demand any gold or silver or anything similar from the
bishops, clerics and monks subject to him. For the apostle says: The
unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God; and, It is not children who should
heap up treasures for their parents, but parents for their children.
So if it is discovered that somebody, because
of a demand for gold or something similar, or because of some private
infatuation of his own, has excluded from the liturgy or excommunicated one of
the clerics under his authority, or has closed off one of the holy churches,
preventing the celebration of God's liturgies in it, pouring out his own
madness against insensible things, then he is truly senseless himself and he
should be subjected to suffer what he would inflict and the penalty imposed by
him will turn upon his own head, because he has transgressed both the
law of God and the rulings of the apostles. For Peter also, the spokesman of
the apostles, urges: Be pastors to the flock of God entrusted to you, not under
compulsion, but willingly as pleasing to God, not for sordid gain but with
enthusiasm, not as men who lord it over those entrusted to you, but as being
models for the flock. Then when the chief shepherd is disclosed, you will carry
off the imperishable crown of glory.
5
It is a sin leading to death when sinners remain uncorrected, but still
worse is it when people flaunt their sin as they override holiness and truth,
both preferring mammon to obedience to God and neglecting his legally
formulated instructions. The Lord God is not present among such persons unless
they humbly turn from their fault. Their duty is to approach God with a
contrite heart and implore his forgiveness for their sin and his pardon, rather
than to take pride in an unholy distribution of gifts: For the Lord is close to
the contrite of heart. Therefore in the case of those who boast that
they have been appointed in the church by distributing gifts of gold,
and who pin their hopes on this evil custom, which alienates a person from God
and from all priesthood, and who take this as a reason for deriding quite
shamelessly and openly those who have been chosen by the holy Spirit and
appointed for the virtue of their lives, without any distribution of gifts of
gold, when they first do this each should take the lowest rank in his
order, and if they persist they should be corrected with a penalty.
If someone is found to have done this at any time in connection with an
ordination, let matters proceed in accordance with the apostolic canon which
says: "If some bishop or priest or deacon has obtained his dignity
by means of money, let him and the person who performed the ordination be
suspended, and let them be excluded completely from the communion, as Simon
Magus was by me, Peter".
Similarly, in accordance with canon 2 of our holy fathers at
Chalcedon, which says "If any bishop performs an ordination for money
and puts the unsaleable grace on sale, and ordains for money a bishop, a
chorepiscopus, a presbyter or deacons or some others of those numbered among
the clergy; or appoints a manager, a legal officer or a warden for money, or
any other ecclesiastic at all for personal sordid gain; let him who has
attempted this and been convicted stand to lose his personal rank, and let the
person ordained profit nothing from the ordination or appointment he has
bought; but let him be removed from the dignity or responsibility which he got
for money. And if anyone appears to have acted even as a go-between in such
disgraceful and unlawful dealings, let him too, if he is a cleric, be demoted
from his personal rank, and if he is a lay person or a monk, let him be
anathematized".
6
Although there is indeed a canon which says, "In each province the canonical
investigations should take place twice yearly by means of a gathering of the
bishops", because of the trouble and because those attending the
meetings lack the resources for such journeys, the holy fathers of the sixth
synod decreed "they should be held in any case and despite all
excuses, once a year, and all that is incorrect should be put right". We
also renew this canon, and should a ruler be found who prevents its
observance, let him be excommunicated; however if one of the metropolitan
bishops neglects its fulfillment, let him be subject to canonical penalties,
unless it is a case of necessity, constraint or some other reasonable cause.
When such a synod is held to discuss canonical and evangelical matters,
the gathered bishops should pay particular care and attention to the divine and
life-giving laws of God: There is a great reward for their observance; for a
law is a lamp, a regulation is a light, and reproof and discipline are the path
of life indeed the law of the Lord gives light to the eyes. However, the
metropolitan bishop does not have the right to demand anything that a bishop
may have brought with him, such as a beast or some other thing; and if he
is convicted of doing so, let him pay back fourfold.
7
The divine apostle Paul said: The sins of some people are manifest,
those of others appear later. Some sins take the front rank but others follow
in their footsteps. Thus in the train of the impious heresy of the defamers of
Christians, many other impieties appeared. Just as those heretics removed the
sight of venerable icons from the church, they also abandoned other customs,
which should now be renewed and which should be in vigour in virtue of both
written and unwritten legislation. Therefore we decree that in
venerable churches consecrated without relics of the holy martyrs, the
installation of relics should take place along with the usual prayers. And if
in future any bishop is found out consecrating a church without relics, let him
be deposed as someone who has flouted the ecclesiastical traditions.
8
Since some of those who come from the religion of the Hebrews mistakenly
think to make a mockery of Christ who is God, pretending to become
Christians, but denying Christ in private by both secretly continuing to
observe the sabbath and maintaining other Jewish practices, we decree that they shall
not be received to communion or at prayer or into the church, but rather
let them openly be Hebrews according to their own religion; they should
not baptize their children or buy, or enter into possession of, a slave.
But if one of them makes his conversion with a sincere faith and heart, and
pronounces his confession wholeheartedly, disclosing their practices and
objects in the hope that others may be refuted and corrected, such a person
should be welcomed and baptized along with his children, and care should be
taken that they abandon Hebrew practices. However if they are not of this sort,
they should certainly not be welcomed.
9
All those childish baubles and bacchic rantings, the false
writings composed against the venerable icons, should be given in at
the episcopal building in Constantinople, so that they can be put away along
with other heretical books. If someone is discovered to be hiding
such books, if he is a bishop, priest or deacon, let him be suspended,
and if he is a lay person or a monk, let him be excommunicated.
10
As some clerics, who despise the canonical ordinance, abandon
their own dioceses and run off into other dioceses--something that
happens with special frequency in this imperial, God-guarded city--and there
they lodge with rulers, celebrating the liturgy in their chapels, let
it not be permitted for them to be received in any house or church without the
approval of their own bishop and that of the bishop of Constantinople. If
they do so and persist therein, they are to be suspended.
In the case of those who do this with the approval of the above-mentioned
prelates, it is not permitted for them to assume worldly and secular
responsibilities, since
they are forbidden to do so by the sacred canons; and if someone is misled into
occupying himself with the responsibility of the so-called high stewards, he is
to desist or be suspended. Rather let him busy himself with the teaching of
the children and servants, lecturing them on the divine scriptures because
it is for such activity that he received the priesthood.
11
Since we are obliged to observe all the sacred canons, we ought also to
maintain in all its integrity the one that says that there should be
administrators in each church. Therefore if each metropolitan bishop
installs an administrator in his own church, that is well and good; but if not,
the bishop of Constantinople on his own authority has the right to appoint one
over the other's church, and similarly with metropolitan bishops, if the
bishops under them do not choose administrators to hold these posts in their
own churches. The same rule is also to be observed with respect to monasteries.
12
If it is discovered that a bishop or a monastic superior is transferring
episcopal or monastic farmland to the control of the ruler, or has been
conceding it to another person, the transaction is null and void in accordance with the canon of
the holy apostles which stipulates: "Let the bishop take care of all
ecclesiastical affairs, and let him administer them as if under God's
inspection. It is not permitted him to appropriate any of these things, nor to
make a present of the things of God to his own relatives. Should the latter be
poor, let him care for them as for other poor people, but let him not use them
as an excuse for selling off the church's possessions." However, if he
pretends that the land is a loss and brings in no profit at all, let him make a
present of the place to clerics or landworkers, but even in these circumstances
it should not be given to the local rulers. If they use evil cunning and the
ruler buys up the land from the landworker or the cleric in question, this sale
shall also be null and void in such circumstances, and the land should be
restored to the bishopric or monastery. And the bishop or monastic superior who
acts thus should be expelled, the bishop from the episcopal house and the
monastic superior from the monastery, because they wickedly waste what they
have not gathered.
13
On account of the disaster which came about in the churches due to our
sins certain venerable houses--episcopal buildings as well as
monasteries--were seized by certain men and became public inns. Now if
those who hold them choose to restore them, so that they are established
once more as formerly they were, this is good and excellent.
However if such is not the case, should they be inscribed in the
list of priests, we order that they be suspended, and if they are
monks or lay persons, that they be excommunicated, seeing that they
are criminals condemned by the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit, and let
them be assigned there where the worm does not die and the fire is not
quenched, because they oppose the voice of the Lord declaring, You shall not
make my Father's house a house of trade.
14
It is perfectly clear to everyone that a certain order has been
established in the priesthood, and that it is God's good pleasure that the
appointment to priestly offices should be observed with care. However we have
noticed that some, without the imposition of hands, are adopting the
clerical tonsure while still youngsters, and without having
received the imposition of hands from the bishop they are undertaking
to read publicly from the ambo during the church service, even though they are
acting uncanonically. We urge therefore that this be discontinued,
and that the same regulation be observed among monks.
Each monastic superior has permission for the imposition of hands on a
reader for his own monastery, and only for that monastery, provided that the
monastic superior has himself received from the bishop the imposition of hands
to rule there, and obviously provided that he is himself a priest. Similarly it
is an ancient custom that chorepiscopi, with the permission of the bishop,
should appoint readers.
15
From now on, no cleric should be appointed to office in two
churches. Such a procedure savours of commerce and sordid profit-making,
and is quite foreign to ecclesiastical custom. We have learned from the Lord's
own voice: No one can serve two masters, because either he will hate the one
and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Therefore, following the advice of the apostle, Each should stay where he has
been called, and remain in one church. In ecclesiastical matters,
whatever is done for the sake of sordid gain constitutes something alien to God.
But as far as the needs of this present life are concerned, there are various
gainful occupations; each may use these, as he prefers, to procure what is
needed for the body. As the apostle said: These hands of mine have provided for
my own needs and for the persons accompanying me. These are the regulations for
this God-protected city; for what concerns places in the country, a concession
may be granted because of the lack of population.
16
All indulgence and adornment bestowed on the body is alien to
the priestly order. Therefore all those bishops and clerics who deck
themselves out in brilliant and showy clothes should be called to order, and if
they persist let them be punished. The same holds for those who use perfumes.
However, since the root of bitterness has sprouted, there has appeared in the
catholic church the plague of a heresy which delights in the defamation of
Christians. Those who adopt this heresy not only heap insults on
representational art, but also reject all forms of reverence and make a mockery
of those who live pious and holy lives, thus fulfilling in their own regard
that saying of scripture, For the sinner piety is an abomination. So if persons
are found who make fun of those who wear simple and respectful clothing, they
should be corrected with punishment. Indeed, from the earliest times all those
ordained to the priesthood have been accustomed to present themselves in public
dressed in modest and respectful clothing, and anyone who adds to his apparel
for the sake of decoration and not out of necessity deserves, as the great
Basil remarked, to be accused of "vainglory". Neither did anyone
dress in variegated clothes made of silk, nor did they add various coloured
ornaments to the fringes of their garments. They had heard the tongue that
spoke God's words declare, Those who dress in soft clothes are in the houses of
kings.
17
Some monks abandon their own monasteries because they
desire to be in authority and disdain obeying others, and then they attempt
to found houses of prayer, although they lack adequate resources. If
somebody undertakes to do this, let him be prevented by the local
bishop. If someone possesses adequate resources, however, his plans should
be brought to completion. The same ruling holds for both laity and clerics.
18
Be irreproachable even for those outside, says the divine apostle. Now for
women to live in the houses of bishops or in monasteries is a cause for every
sort of scandal. Therefore if anybody is discovered to be keeping a woman,
whether a slave or free, in the bishop's house or in a monastery in order to
undertake some service, let him be censured, and if he persists let him be
deposed. Should it happen that women are living in the suburban residence and
the bishop or monastic superior wishes to journey there, no woman should be
allowed to undertake any sort of work during the time that the bishop or
monastic superior is present; she should stay on her own in some other area
until the bishop has retired, in order to avoid all possible criticism.
19
The blight of avarice has spread to such an extent among ecclesiastical
authorities that even some so called pious men and women, forgetting the Lord's
commands, have been tricked intoauthorizing, for the sake of cash payments,
the entry of those presenting themselves for the priestly order and the
monastic life. Thus it happens, as the great Basil says, "when people
begin wrongly, all they do is to be rejected", for it is not possible to
serve God through mammon. So, if somebody is found out to be doing this, if he
is a bishop or a male monastic superior or one of the priests, let him stop
or be deposed, in accordance with canon 2 of the holy council of Chalcedon.
If the person is a female monastic superior, let her be expelled from the
monastery and put under obedience in another monastery, and similarly for a
male monastic superior who has not received priestly ordination.
With regard to gifts given by parents under the concept of dowries for
their children, or with regard to the personally acquired goods that the latter
present provided that those presenting them declare that these are gifts
offered to God, we have decreed that these gifts are to remain in the
monastery, whether the person stays or leaves, in accordance with their
explicit undertaking, unless there is a reprehensible cause on the part of the
person in charge.
20
We decree that from now on no more double monasteries are to be
started because this becomes a cause of scandal and a stumbling block
for ordinary folk. If there are persons who wish to renounce the world and
follow the monastic life along with their relatives, the men should go off to a
male monastery and their wives enter a female monastery, for God is surely
pleased with this.
The double monasteries that have existed up to now should
continue to exist according to the rule of our holy father Basil, and
their constitutions should follow his ordinances. Monks and nuns should not
live in one monastic building, because adultery takes advantage of such
cohabitation. No monk should have the licence to speak in private with a nun,
nor any nun with a monk. A monk should not sleep in a female monastery, nor
should he eat alone with a nun. When the necessary nourishment is being carried
from the male area for the nuns, the female superior, accompanied by one of the
older nuns, should receive it outside the door. And if it should happen that a
monk wishes to pay a visit to one of his female relatives, let him speak with
her in the presence of the female superior, but briefly and rapidly, and let
him leave her quickly.
21
It is not right for a monk or a nun to leave his or her own monastery
and transfer to another. However should this occur, it is obligatory that hospitality be given
but such a person should not be accepted as a member without the agreement of
his or her monastic superior.
22
It is very important to dedicate everything to God and not to become
slaves of our own desires; for whether you eat or drink, the divine apostle says, do all for the
glory of God. Now Christ our God has instructed us in his gospels to eradicate
the beginnings of sins. So not only adultery is rebuked by him, but also the
movement of one's intention towards the performance of adultery, when he says:
He who looks on a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in
his heart.
Thus instructed we should purify our intentions: For if all things are
lawful, not all things are expedient, as we learn from the words of the
apostle. Now everybody is certainly obliged to eat in order to live, and in the
case of those whose life includes marriage and children and the conditions
proper to layfolk it is not reprehensible that men and women should eat in one
another's company; though they should at least say grace to thank the giver of
their nourishment, and they should avoid certain theatrical entertainments,
diabolical songs, the strumming of lyres and the dancing fit for harlots,
against all such there is the curse of the prophet which says, Woe on those who
drink their wine to the sound of lyre and harp, those who pay no attention to
the deeds of the Lord and have never a thought for the works of his hands. If
ever such people are found among Christians, they should reform, and if they do
not, let the canonical sanctions established by our predecessors be imposed on
them.
Those whose mode of life is contemplative and solitary should sit and be
silent, because they have entered into a contract with the Lord that the yoke
they carry will be a solitary one. Indeed, all those who have chosen the life
of priests are certainly not free to eat privately in the company of women, but
at the most in the company of certain God-fearing and pious men and women, in
order that such a meal taken in common may draw them to spiritual betterment.
Let the same be done in the case of relatives.
As for another situation, if a monk or even a man in priestly orders
happens to be making a journey and is not carrying with him his indispensable
provisions, and then wishes to satisfy his needs in a public inn or in
someone's house, he is allowed to do so when it is a case of pressing
necessity.
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