THE FOURTH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL
THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON
Canon I.
WE have judged it fight that the canons of the Holy Fathers made in every
synod even until now, should remain in force.
Canon II.
IF any Bishop should ordain for money, and put to sale a grace which
cannot be sold, and for money ordain a bishop, or Chorepiscopus, or presbyters,
or deacons, or any other of those who are counted among the clergy; or if
through lust of gain he should nominate for money a steward, or advocate, or
prosmonarius, or any one whatever who is on the roll of the Church, let him who
is convicted of this forfeit his own rank; and let him who is ordained be
nothing profited by the purchased ordination or promotion; but let him be
removed from the dignity or charge he has obtained for money. And if any one
should be found negotiating such shameful and unlawful transactions, let him
also, if he is a clergyman, be deposed from his rank, and if he is a layman or
monk, let him be anathematized.
Canon III.
IT has come to [the knowledge of] the holy Synod that certain of those
who are enrolled among the clergy have, through lust of gain, become hirers of
other men's possessions, and make contracts pertaining to secular affairs,
lightly esteeming the service of God, and slip into the houses of secular
persons, whose property they undertake through covetousness to manage.
Wherefore the great and holy Synod decrees that henceforth no bishop,
clergyman, nor monk shall hire possessions, or engage in business, or occupy
himself in worldly engagements, unless he shall be called by the law to the
guardianship of minors, from which there is no escape; or unless the bishop of
the city shall commit to him the care of ecclesiastical business, or of
unprovided orphans or widows and of persons who stand especially in need of the
Church's help, through the fear of God. And if any one shall hereafter
transgress these decrees, he shall be subjected to ecclesiastical penalties
Canon IV.
Let those who truly and sincerely lead the monastic life be counted
worthy of becoming honor; but, forasmuch as certain persons using the pretext
of monasticism bring confusion both upon the churches and into political
affairs by going about promiscuously in the cities, and at the same time
seeking to establish Monasteries for themselves; it is decreed that no one
anywhere build or found a monastery or oratory contrary to the will of the
bishop of the city; and that the monks in every city and district shall be
subject to the bishop, and embrace a quiet course of life, and give themselves
only to fasting and prayer, remaining permanently in the places in which they
were set apart; and they shall meddle neither in ecclesiastical nor in secular
affairs, nor leave their own monasteries to take part in such; unless, indeed,
they should at any time through urgent necessity be appointed thereto by the
bishop of the city. And no slave shall be received into any monastery to become
a monk against the will of his master. And if any one shall transgress this our
judgment, we have decreed that he shall be excommunicated, that the name of God
be not blasphemed. But the bishop of the city must make the needful provision
for the monasteries.
Canon V.
Concerning bishops or clergymen who go about from city to city, it is
decreed that the canons enacted by the Holy Fathers shall still retain their
force.
Canon VI.
Neither presbyter, deacon, nor any of the ecclesiastical order shall be
ordained at large, nor unless the person ordained is particularly appointed to
a church in a city or village, or to a martyry, or to a monastery. And if any
have been ordained without a charge, the holy Synod decrees, to the reproach of
the ordainer, that such an ordination shall be inoperative, and that such shall
nowhere be suffered to officiate.
Canon VII.
WE have decreed that those who have once been enrolled among the clergy,
or have been made monks, shall accept neither a military charge nor any secular
dignity; and if they shall presume to do so and not repent in such wise as to
turn again to that which they had first chosen for the love of God, they shall
be anathematized.
Canon VIII.
Let the clergy of the poor-houses, monasteries, and martyries remain
under the authority of the bishops in every city according to the tradition of
the holy Fathers; and let no one arrogantly cast off the rule of his own
bishop; and if any shall contravene this canon in any way whatever, and will
not be subject to their own bishop, if they be clergy, let them be subjected to
canonical censure, and if they be monks or laymen, let them be excommunicated.
Canon IX.
IF any Clergyman have a matter against another clergyman, he shall not forsake
his bishop and run to secular courts; but let him first lay open the matter
before his own Bishop, or let the matter be submitted to any person whom each
of the parties may, with the Bishop's consent, select. And if any one shall
contravene these decrees, let him be subjected to canonical penalties. And if a
clergyman have a complaint against his own or any other bishop, let it be
decided by the synod of the province. And if a bishop or clergyman should have
a difference with the metropolitan of the province, let him have recourse to
the Exarch of the Diocese, or to the throne of the Imperial City of
Constantinople, and there let it be tried.
Canon X.
IT shall not be lawful for a clergyman to be at the same time enrolled in
the churches of two cities, that is, in the church in which he was at first
ordained, and in another to which, because it is greater, he has removed from
lust of empty honor. And those who do so shall be returned to their own church
in which they were originally ordained, and there only shall they minister. But
if any one has heretofore been removed from one church to another, he shall not
intermeddle with the affairs of his former church, nor with the martyries,
almshouses, and hostels belonging to it. And if, after the decree of this great
and ecumenical Synod, any shall dare to do any of these things now forbidden,
the synod decrees that he shall be degraded from his rank.
Canon XI.
WE have decreed that the poor and those needing assistance shall travel,
after examination, with letters merely pacifical from the church, and not with
letters commendatory, inasmuch as letters commendatory ought to be given only
to persons who are open to suspicion
Canon XII.
IT has come to our knowledge that certain persons, contrary to the laws
of the Church, having had recourse to secular powers, have by means of imperial
rescripts divided one Province into two, so that there are consequently two
metropolitans in one province; therefore the holy Synod has decreed that for
the future no such thing shall be at- tempted by a bishop, since he who shall
undertake it shall be degraded from his rank. But the cities which have already
been honored by means of imperial letters with the name of metropolis, and the
bishops in charge of them, shall take the bare title, all metropolitan rights
being preserved to the true Metropolis.
Canon XIII.
Strange and unknown clergymen without letters commendatory from their own
Bishop, are absolutely prohibited from officiating in another city.
Canon XIV.
Since in certain provinces it is permitted to the readers and singers to
marry, the holy Synod has decreed that it shall not be lawful for any of them
to take a wife that is heterodox. But those who have already begotten children
of such a marriage, if they have already had their children baptized among the
heretics, must bring them into the communion of the Catholic Church; but if
they have not had them baptized, they may not hereafter baptize them among
heretics, nor give them in marriage to a heretic, or a Jew, or a heathen,
unless the person marrying the orthodox child shall promise to come over to the
orthodox faith. And if any one shah transgress this decree of the holy synod,
let him be subjected to canonical censure.
Canon XV.
A Woman shall not receive the laying on of hands as a deaconess under
forty years of age, and then only after searching examination. And if, after
she has had hands laid on her and has continued for a time to minister, she
shall despise the grace of God and give herself in marriage, she shall be anathematized
and the man united to her.
Canon XVII.
Outlying or rural parishes shall in every province remain subject to the
bishops who now have jurisdiction over them, particularly if the bishops have
peaceably and continuously governed them for the space of thirty years. But if
within thirty years there has been, or is, any dispute concerning them, it is
lawful for those who hold themselves aggrieved to bring their cause before the
synod of the province. And if any one be wronged by his metropolitan, let the
matter be decided by the Exarch of the diocese or by the throne of
Constantinople, as aforesaid. And if any city has been, or shall hereafter be
newly erected by imperial authority, let the order of the ecclesiastical
parishes follow the political and municipal example.
Canon XVIII.
The crime of conspiracy or banding together is utterly prohibited even by
the secular law, and much more ought it to be forbidden in the Church of God.
Therefore, if any, whether clergymen or monks, should be detected in conspiring
or banding together, or hatching plots against their bishops or fellow-clergy,
they shall by all means be deposed from their own rank.
Canon XIX.
Whereas it has come to our ears that in the provinces the Canonical
Synods of Bishops are not held, and that on this account many ecclesiastical
matters which need reformation are neglected; therefore, according to the
canons of the holy Fathers, the holy Synod decrees that the bishops of every
province shall twice in the year assemble together where the bishop of the
Metropolis shall approve, and shall then settle whatever matters may have
arisen. And bishops, who do not attend, but remain in their own cities, though
they are in good health and free from any unavoidable and necessary business,
shall receive a brotherly admonition.
Canon XX.
It shall not be lawful, as we have already decreed, for clergymen
officiating in one church to be appointed to the church of another city, but
they shall cleave to that in which they were first thought worthy to minister;
those, however, being excepted, who have been driven by necessity from their
own country, and have therefore removed to another church. And if, after this
decree, any bishop shall receive a clergyman belonging to another bishop, it is
decreed that both the received and the receiver shall be excommunicated until
such time as the clergyman who has removed shall have returned to his own
church.
Canon XXI.
Clergymen and laymen bringing charges against bishops or clergymen are
not to be received loosely and without examination, as accusers, but their own
character shall first be investigated.
Canon XXII.
IT is not lawful for clergymen, after the death of their bishop, to seize
what belongs to him, as has been forbidden also by the ancient canons; and
those who do so shall be in danger of degradation from their own rank.
Canon XXIII.
IT has come to the hearing of the holy Synod that certain clergymen and
monks, having no authority from their own bishop, and sometimes, indeed, while
under sentence of excommunication by him, betake themselves to the imperial
Constantinople, and remain there for a long time, raising disturbances and
troubling the ecclesiastical state, and turning men's houses upside down.
Therefore the holy Synod has determined that such persons be first notified by
the Advocate of the most holy Church of Constantinople to depart from the
imperial city; and if they shall shamelessly continue in the same practices,
that they shall be expelled by the same Advocate even against their will, and
return to their own places.
Canon XXIV.
Monasteries, which have once been consecrated with the consent of the
bishop, shall remain monasteries for ever, and the property belonging to them
shall be preserved, and they shall never again become secular dwellings. And
they who shall permit this to be done shall be liable to ecclesiastical
penalties.
Canon XXV.
Forasmuch as certain of the metropolitans, as we have heard, neglect the
flocks committed to them, and delay the ordinations of bishops the holy Synod
has decided that the ordinations of bishops shall take place within three
months, unless an inevitable necessity should some time require the term of
delay to be prolonged. And if he shall not do this, he shall be liable to
ecclesiastical penalties, and the income of the widowed church shall be kept
safe by the steward of the same Church.
Canon XXVI.
Forasmuch as we have heard that in certain churches the bishops managed
the church-business without stewards, it has seemed good that every church
having a bishop shall have also a steward from among its own clergy, who shall
manage the church business under the sanction of his own bishop; that so the
administration of the church may not be without a witness; and that thus the
goods of the church may not be squandered, nor reproach be brought upon the
priesthood; and if he [i.e., the Bishop] will not do this, he shall be
subjected to the divine canons.
Canon XXVII.
The holy Synod has decreed that those who forcibly carry off women under
pretence of marriage, and the alders or abettors of such ravishers, shall be
degraded if clergymen, and if laymen be anathematized.
Canon XXVIII.
Following in all things the decisions of the holy Fathers, and
acknowledging the canon, which has been just read, of the One Hundred and Fifty
Bishops beloved-of-God (who assembled in the imperial city of Constantinople,
which is New Rome, in the time of the Emperor Theodosius of happy memory), we
also do enact and decree the same things concerning the privileges of the most
holy Church of Constantinople, which is New Rome. For the Fathers rightly
granted privileges to the throne of old Rome, because it was the royal city.
And the One Hundred and Fifty most religious Bishops, actuated by the same
consideration, gave equal privileges to the most holy throne of New Rome, justly judging that the city which is honored with the Sovereignty and the Senate, and enjoys equal
privileges with the old imperial Rome, should in ecclesiastical matters also be
magnified as she is, and rank next after her; so that, in the Pontic, the
Asian, and the Thracian dioceses, the metropolitans only and such bishops also
of the Dioceses aforesaid as are among the barbarians, should be ordained by the
aforesaid most holy throne of the most holy Church of Constantinople; every
metropolitan of the aforesaid dioceses, together with the bishops of his
province, ordaining his own provincial bishops, as has been declared by the
divine canons; but that, as has been above said, the metropolitans of the
aforesaid Dioceses should be ordained by the archbishop of Constantinople,
after the proper elections have been held according to custom and have been
reported to him.
Canon XXIX
For a Bishop to bear the rank of Presbyter is sacrilege. If, however, any just reason determines their removal from practice as Bishops, then neither ought they occupy the position of Presbyter. But if for any cause than some crime they have been deprived of the dignity of office, they shall be restored to the dignity and office of the Episcopate.
Canon XXX
Whereas the most reverent Bishops of Egypt postponed subscribing tp the epistle of the most holy Archbishop Leo for the present, not because they opposed the catholic faith, but on the allegation that it is a custom in the diocese of Egypt to do nothing of this sort without the consent and formal approval of their Archbishop, and therefore request to be excused until the one who is to be the Bishop for the great city of Alexandrians has been ordained: it has appeared to us reasonable and consonant with the spirit of philanthropy that they be excused and allowed to remain upon the like habit of the Imperial City till an Archbishop has been ordained for the great city of the Alexandrians. Let them therefore give security that they will not leave this city till the city of the Alexandrians has been accomodated with a bishop.