CHURCH CANONS 3
THE 7 CANONS OF THE HOLY AND ECUMENICAL SECOND COUNCIL
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CANON I
The holy Fathers assembled in Constantinople have decided
not to set aside the faith of the three hundred and
eighteen Fathers who met in Nicaea, Bithynia, but to let
it remain sovereign, and that every heresy be
anathematized, and especially and specifically that of
the Eunomians, including that of the Eudoxians, and that
of the Semi-Arians, including that of the Pneumatamachs,
and that of the Sabellians, and that of the Marcellians,
and that of the Photinians. and that of the
Apollinarians.
CANON II
Bishops must not leave their own diocese and go over to
churches beyond its boundaries, but, on the contrary, in
accordance with the Canons, let the Bishop of Alexandria
administer the affairs of Egypt only, let the Bishops of
the East govern the Eastern Church only, the priorities
granted to the church of the Antiochians in the Nicene
Canons being kept inviolate, and let the Bishops of the
Asian diocese (or administrative domain) administer only
the affairs of the Asian church, and let those of the
Pontic diocese look after the affairs of the diocese of
Pontus only, and let those of the Thracian diocese manage
the affairs of the Thracian diocese only. Let Bishops not
go beyond their own province to carry out an ordination
or any other ecclesiastical services unless (officially)
summoned thither. When the Canon prescribed in regard to
dioceses (or administrative provinces) is duly kept, it
is evident that the synod of each province will confine
itself to the affairs of that particular province, in
accordance with the regulations decreed in Nicaea. But
the churches of God that are situated in territories
belonging to barbarian nations must be administered in
accordance with the customary practice of the Fathers.
CANON III
Let the Bishop of Constantinople, however, have the
priorities of honor after the Bishop of Rome, because of
its being New Rome.
CANON IV
As concerning Maximus the Cynic, and the disturbance
caused by him in Constantinople, it is hereby decreed
that Maximus neither became nor is a Bishop, and that
neither are those ordained by him entitled to hold any
clerical rank whatsoever. Let everything connected with
him or done by him be annulled.
CANON V
As concerning the Tome of the Westerners, we have
accepted also those in Antioch who confess a single
divinity of Father and of Son and of Holy Spirit.
CANON VI
Because many men, in a spirit of enmity and for purposes
of slander being desirous to confound and subvert
ecclesiastical discipline, connive to fabricate certain
charges against Orthodox Bishops managing the churches,
in an attempt designing nothing else but to sully the
reputation of the priests and to raise disturbances among
peoples who are at peace, on this account it has pleased
the holy Council of the Bishops who have convened in
Constantinople to decree that informers are not to be
admitted without examination, nor are all men to be
allowed to bring accusations against those managing the
churches, nor yet are all to be excluded. But if anyone
lay a personal grievance, that is, a private complaint,
against a Bishop, on the ground that he has been a victim
of the Bishop’s greed or other unjust treatment, in
the case of such accusations neither the personality nor
the religion of the accuser is to be inquired into. For
then the conscience of the Bishop must be clear in every
respect, and the man who claims to have been wronged
should receive justice whatever be his religion. But if
the indictment brought against the Bishop be of an
ecclesiastical nature, then the personality of the
informers must be considered, in order, first of all, not
to allow heretics to make charges against Orthodox
Bishops in regard to ecclesiastical matters. We call
heretics those who have of old been proscribed from the
Church, and those who have thereafter been anathematized
by us; and in addition to these those who, though
pretending to confess the sound faith, have
schismatically separated and have gathered congregations
in opposition to our canonical Bishops. Further, as
regarding those who have previously been condemned by the
Church on certain charges and have been ousted therefrom
or excluded from communion, whether they belong to the
clergy or to the ranks of laymen, neither shall these
persons be allowed to accuse a Bishop until they have
first cleared themselves of their own indictment.
Likewise as regarding those who are themselves being
accused from before, they are not to be permitted to
accuse a Bishop, or other clergymen, until they have
first proved themselves innocent of the charges placed
against them. If, however, certain persons are neither
heretics nor excluded from communion, nor condemned, nor
previously charged with any offenses, should declare that
they have a’’ accusation of an ecclesiastical
nature against a Bishop, the holy Council bids these
persons to lodge their accusations before all the Bishops
of the province and before them to prove the charges
against the Bishop involved in the case. But if it so
happen that the provincial Bishops are unable to or
incompetent to decide the case against the Bishop and
make the correction due, then they are to go to a greater
synod of the Bishops of this diocese summoned to try this
case. And they are not to lodge the accusation until they
themselves have in writing agreed to incur the same
penalty if in the course of the trial it be proved that
they have been slandering the accused Bishop. But if
anyone, Scorning what has been decreed in the foregoing
statements, should dare either to annoy the
emperor’s ears or to trouble courts of secular
authorities or an ecumenical council to the affrontment
of all the Bishops of the diocese, let no such person be
allowed to present any information whatever, because of
his having thus roundly insulted the Canons and
ecclesiastical discipline.
CANON VII
As for those heretics who betake themselves to Orthodoxy, and to the lot of
the saved, we accept them in accordance with the subjoined sequence and custom;
viz.: Arians, and Macedonians, and Sabbatians, and Novatians, those calling
themselves Cathari (or "Puritans"), and (those calling themselves)
Aristeri (Note of Translator. This designation may be based upon the Greek word
aristos, meaning "best," though as a word it signifies "lefthand."),
and the Quartodecimans (quasi "Fourteenthists," to use the English
language in this connection), otherwise known as Tetradites (though in English
this term is applied to an entirely different group of heretics), and Apollinarians
we accept when they offer libelli (i.e., recantations in writing) and anathematize
every heresy that does not hold the same beliefs as the catholic and apostolic
Church of God, and are sealed first with holy myron (more usually called "chrism"
in English) on their forehead and their eyes, and nose, and mouth, and ears;
and in sealing them we say: "A seal of a free gift of Holy Spirit."
As for Eunomians, however, who are baptized with a single immersion, and Montanists,
who are here called Phrygians, and the Sabellians, who teach that Father and
Son are the same person, and who do some other bad things, and (those belonging
to) any other heresies (for there are many heretics here, especially such as
come from the country of the Galatians:: all of them that want to adhere to
Orthodoxy we are willing to accept as Greeks. Accordingly, on the first day
we make (Note of Translator. The meaning of this word here is more exactly rendered
"treat as") them Christians; on the second day, catechumens; then,
on the third day, we exorcise them with the act of blowing thrice into their
face and into their ears; and thus do we catechize them, and roe make them tarry
a while in the church and listen to the Scriptures; and then we baptize them.
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